Potter, Beatrix, 1866-1943, English author and illustrator. She published her first animal stories, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), at her own expense before she found a publisher, Frederick Warne & Company. Over a period of 30 years, Warne published 23 of her books. Potter's stories, although fantasy, depict animals in an intelligent, unsentimental, and humorous manner. The books are enhanced by her delicate drawings and watercolor paintings. Now considered classics, Potter's stories are still popular and have been translated into several languages.

Beatrix, 1938-, queen of the Netherlands. The oldest daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, she received a law degree from the Univ. of Leyden (1961). In 1966 her marriage to German diplomat Claus von Amsberg, once a member of the Hitler Youth and the German army but cleared of charges by an Allied court, caused considerable controversy. The following year she gave birth to a son, Willem Alexander Claus, the first male heir in the line of succession since 1884; she also has two other sons. In 1980, Juliana abdicated in favor of Beatrix.

(born July 28, 1866, South Kensington, Middlesex, Eng.—died Dec. 22, 1943, Sawrey, Lancashire) English author and illustrator of children's books. In her childhood Potter spent holidays in Scotland and the English Lake District, which inspired her love of animals and stimulated her imaginative and technically superb watercolour drawings. The illustrated animal stories she sent to a sick child when she was 27 were published as The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), which became one of the best-selling children's books of all time. More than 20 sequels followed, featuring such original characters as Jeremy Fisher, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.

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(born Jan. 31, 1938, Soestdijk, Neth.) Queen of The Netherlands. Beatrix went into exile with her family when the Germans invaded The Netherlands in World War II, and she spent the war years in Britain and Canada. In 1965 her betrothal to a German diplomat sparked controversy because of his past membership in the Hitler Youth and the German army. They were married in 1966, and the hostility waned with the births of the first male heirs in the house of Orange since 1890. Beatrix became queen in 1980 after the abdication of her mother, Juliana.

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