Beatrix of the Netherlands

Born in 1938 during her grandmother Wilhelmina's reign, Beatrix spent part of World War II at a Canadian public school before returning to finish her education in the Netherlands. She earned a law degree from Leiden University in 1961, then married German diplomat Claus von Amsberg five years later — a union that produced three sons. When her mother Juliana abdicated in 1980, Beatrix took the throne at forty-two. Her reign saw the kingdom's Caribbean architecture redrawn: Aruba broke away as its own constituent country in 1986, then the Netherlands Antilles dissolved in 2010, splitting into ne…