Youth
Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau and Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, was born on 31 January 1938 at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn.
She was the first child of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard. Her younger sister, Princess Irene, was born in 1939. When war broke out in May 1940, the family left for the United Kingdom.
A month later, Princess Beatrix and her younger sister fled with their mother to Ottawa in Canada, where Princess Margriet was born in 1943. Prince Bernhard remained in London with Queen Wilhelmina during the war. The family set foot on Dutch soil again on 2 August 1945. Princess Christina was born at Soestdijk Palace in 1947.