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Juliana herself is a somewhat uncertain and muddled Queen, always late for appointments because she gets too involved in whatever she is doing. In the 1950s, she fell under the influence of a faith healer named Greet Hofmans. Juliana had long felt a personal guilt for the near blindness of her youngest daughter, Christina, an affliction probably caused by an attack of measles during the Queen's pregnancy. Hofmans claimed she could cure Christina, and Juliana soon depended on her for spiritual and political advice as well. It was Prince Bernhard who got rid of the faith healer. While Dutch papers remained loyally silent, Bernhard leaked the story to the foreign press, and the resulting uproar brought the Queen and government into direct conflict. As a result, Greet Hofmans moved out of the palace and now lives in an old-fashioned wooden trailer on the estate of a Dutch banker.
Active Member. The Queen calls the Prince "Bernilo," and he calls her "Julie." He is as slim and debonair as she is shy and plump. At 52, he has long since overcome the handicap of being German by birth, is one of the busiest men in the kingdom, sits as an active member of the boards of Royal Fokker Aircraft, Royal Netherlands steelworks and KLM (in the interest of fairness, he serves only on the board of companies that have no Dutch competitors). Not only is he his nation's most effective representative abroad, but he also provides the authority and humor the Queen lacks. In the case of Irene, he backed the view of the Queen and the government that, given the Carlist political complications, the wedding must take place without official family sanction.
With the embattled wedding finally over and Irene formally ruled out of the line of succession by Parliament, attention turned to Beatrix, who at 26 is already surer of herself than Juliana ever was. Particularly close to her father, "Trix" shares his spontaneous enjoyment of life. Once, when christening a new ship, she drenched the assembled dignitaries with champagne, and her laughter at the sight was heard throughout the country on TV. Her only apparent major problem is getting married. The government would dearly like to break the habit of finding royal consorts among the Protestant German aristocracy. But suitable Protestant princes, German or otherwise, are hard to find nowadays. The remaining daughter, pretty, 21-year-old Princess Margriet, shares her mother's stoutness, and her hairdos have a lamentable tendency to come down about her ears.
Rinse & Set. While Irene and her new husband were honeymooning in Italy, Juliana received the good wishes of her people on her 55th birthday. Wearing glasses and with a new hair rinse and set, she drove along the road in front of the palace in a Chevrolet convertible so that the crowds could get a better look. Later, on TV, she told the nation a little unconvincingly that her roles as Queen and mother had never clashed in the matter of Irene's wedding. She thanked her subjects for "the love you have shown our daughter Irene, whom we love so much. Difficulties often make us realize how much we love someone, and we know that you hope with us that our daughter will find true happiness."