Princess Juliana Visits Aruba

Her Royal Highness visits Aruba

From May 1940 till the end of World War II (1944), Crown Princess Juliana spent four (4) years in exile in Canada, with her two (2) daughters, Princess Beatrix and Princess Irene, to escape the German occupation.

Before returning to the Netherlands after her exile, Crown Princess Juliana was able to spend a day on Aruba, on Tuesday, February 29, 1944, as the first Dutch Royal to do so, while also visiting the countries: Curaçao, Bonaire, Venezuela, St. Maarten, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. She landed at Dakota Airport on "De Meeuw" (The Seagull), the Lockheed Super Electra. 
On her program while on Aruba, there was a visit to the Juliana school, named after her, andshe was greeted by a thousand boys and girls who sang to her.

The Second World War led to a shift in perception of the Kingdom and the colonialism that had existed until 1939. Her Royal Highness Queen Wilhelmina, Princess Juliana's mother, announced greater independence for the overseas territories in 1942. Negotiations with Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles had begun in 1948, and in 1954, the "Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands," or simply the Statute, was completed. Queen Juliana signed the Act of Confirmation on December 15, 1954, which officially came into effect on December 29, 1954. The anniversary of the Statute is celebrated annually on Kingdom Day, December 15.