The Last Koninginnedag

Last Koninginnedag

And so the time has finally arrived for Queen Beatrix to retire from her daily 9 to 5 and hand the family business over to her son Willem-Alexander. For Beatrix this means more free time and maybe a new hobby or two. For Alexander it means following in his mothers footsteps and giving up any dreams he might have had of becoming a dancer (or maybe I’m getting mixed up with the plot of Billy Eliot). And for Alexander’s wife it means she will become Queen Maxima, a title that makes her sound like a bond villain.

But more importantly; for the Dutch people it means everything will change. No longer will they celebrate Queen’s Day by dressing up in more orange than is fashionably sensible and getting as drunk as possible before 11am. Instead they will celebrate King’s day by dressing up in more orange than is fashionably sensible and getting as drunk as possible before 11am… It will take some getting used to.

Luckily the Dutch royal family have a habit of being born around the same time of year so the date will only shift from April 30th (Queen Juliana B-day) to April 27th (King Alexander’s B-day). At least it will just as soon as everyone can work out what to call it… Koningsdag? Koningdag?

But for now:

Queen
Still unsure what it is all about? Check out:
The Accidentally Dutch Guide to Queen’s Day

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

8 Responses

  1. Alison says:

    Love the ‘stache!

  2. VallyP says:

    Brilliant, Stu! You have as always, found the things that make like here distinct. Well done for pointing out the differences between Queen’s Day and King’s Day. I would never have noticed. Such subtlety :-) PS, are the badges still available?

  3. B says:

    One key difference this year: there could be riots in the streets of Amsterdam! That’s what happened when Beatrix ascended to the throne back in 1980. I guess the US embassy has posted a warning to all Americans living/travelling in the Netherlands next week. [Not] a direct quote…

    “Look out! Anti-royal Dutchies may riot! Avoid large masses of them on April 30th. If they start tossing bitterballen, immediately leave the area!”

  4. Yvette says:

    My biggest issue with the end of Queen’s Day is that at the University of Amsterdam we are good communists who get off May 1, so it was nice to have National Hangover Day off. Not gonna be the case now that it’s moving to April 27. :(

    I confess I’m being very un-Dutch and escaping for 5 days to Copenhagen because we also get Monday off, and a 5 day weekend was too big a lure to resist!

  5. Invader_Stu says:

    Alison – I’m thinking I should grow one like that fro real.

    VallyP – I am here to serve :) And yes they are indeed.

    B – If they start tossing bitterballen I am going to try and catch them.

    Yvette – I was already think he is not going to make many friends by the fact the first King’s Day is going to be at the weekend so no day off work.

  6. Lony says:

    Wuhahahaha…. GREAT STUFF!!! You made my day… Have a great weekend, Lony x

  7. iancochrane says:

    `Queen Maxima’
    Mmm, IA little too close to Catherine the Great for my liking.

  8. Dang it. Just when I got the spelling of Koninginnedag down, y’all just HAD to go and change it around. –.–

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