Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has abdicated the Dutch throne to make way for her son
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced her abdication yesterday, after 33 years on the throne.
The Dutch royal, who celebrates her 75th birthday later this week, made a short appearance on national television and radio, in which she said it was time to place the nation 'in the hands of a new generation'.
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The Queen will make way for the eldest of her three sons, Prince Willem-Alexander, who will take over as head of the monarchy in April.
In the speech, delivered from her Huis ten Bosch palace, the Queen said: 'I am not abdicating because this office is too much of a burden, but out of conviction that the responsibility for our nation should now rest in the hands of a new generation.'
'I am deeply grateful for the great faith you have shown in me in the many years that I could be your Queen,' she added.
The Queen follows in the footsteps of her mother, Queen Juliana , who abdicated the throne in 1980, and grandmother, Queen Wilhelmina, who abdicated in 1948.
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