The eldest of four daughters born to Princess (later Queen) Juliana and Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Beatrix went into exile with her family when the Germans overran The Netherlands in World War II, and she spent the war years in Britain and Canada. When Juliana ascended the throne in 1948, Princess Beatrix received the title of heiress presumptive. From 1956 to 1961 she attended the State University of Leiden, studying mainly social sciences, law, and history.

In 1965 her betrothal to a German diplomat, Claus George Willem Otto Frederik Geert von Amsberg (b. 1926—d. 2002), caused a national furor because of his past membership in the Hitler Youth and the German army, even though he had been cleared by an Allied court. On March 10, 1966, they were married amid rioting in Amsterdam, but the hostility dimmed with the births of Willem-Alexander (1967), Johan Friso (1968), and Constantijn (1969), the first male heirs in the House of Orange since 1890.

In 1980 Queen Juliana abdicated, and Beatrix ascended the throne on April 30. She was noted for her involvement in a number of social causes and proved a popular monarch. In 2004 Johan Friso married without the approval of the Dutch government, thus giving up any claim to the throne.