On April 30, 2013, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated in favor of her son, Willem Alexander, thereby giving the Dutch kingdom its first king in over a century -- and putting an end to one hundred and twenty-plus years of celebrating Queen's Day.
Queen's Day started out, on the last day of August 1885, as Princessedag: to celebrate the birthday of King Willem III's daughter, Princess Wilhelmina, who turned a tender five that year. Five years later, when her father died and Wilhelmina became Queen, the holiday got the name it would become known for the world over: Koninginnedag.
Queen's Day in Queen Wilhelmina's Day & Age...
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Wilhelmina's successor, Queen Juliana, kept the holiday but changed the date to her own birthday: April 30th.
... and in Juliana's Day...
Juliana's own successor, Beatrix, was born on January 31st, right in the middle of winter -- and who wants to celebrate anything, even a royal b-day, in the middle of winter. So Queen's Day kept on being April 30.
... and celebrations turned a tad wilder...
... even in the kingdom's farthest Caribbean shores. (Just a bit.)
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Well, except the first one. See, the first King's Day -- in history! -- was supposed to be April 27 2014, but it fell on a Sunday... And even a king knows you don't make friends by moving a day off to a weekend. Wisely, he chose to begin this revised tradition in 2015, when the 27th is a Monday. Yep. Next weekend is a long weekend for the Dutch kingdom.
From solemn flower girls and military parades to... Well.
(It's probably a good thing Queen Wilhelmina didn't live to see the, uh, evolution of her birthday celebrations)
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| Yes. That lion has Willem Alexander's -- the king's -- face. |
I spent Queen's Day in a small town in Holland a few years ago, while staying with a Dutch friend. Not something I shall forget easily. I wonder if it will be any different as King's Day.
ReplyDeleteHow cool, Keith! I don't think many non-Dutch have experienced Queen's Day; some cities with marked Dutch diplomatic presence host events every now and then, some even with certain success (a Curaçao friend living in San Francisco told me about an epic Queen's Day there a few years ago), but there's something special about experiencing the festivities in Dutch territory, somehow. Glad you got to do that. And no, I don't think it'll change much as King's Day... Though it does feel a tad strange. But I couldn't explain why :)
DeleteNice one Guilie thank you! I remember when Queen Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son and he married a commoner ... a friend of mine here in South Africa is Dutch and she spoke about this, quite favourably ... but now I'm worried I'm getting confused about the queens .. forgiveness asked if I've erred.
ReplyDeleteHaha... No, no erring at all. Willem Alexander did marry a commoner back in 2002, an Argentinian woman who's won over the collective Dutch heart (and seems to have saved the Dutch monarchy from an increasing sense of uselessness) by the name of Máxima. The W.A.-Maxima pair became king and queen on Apr 30 2013, when Beatrix abdicated.
DeleteHi Guilie - interesting to see the history and to see how the 'celebrations' changed - orange is Dutch! The abdication has been successful .. so am sorry Queen's Day is now King's Day .. but you got your Q in - just ... and interesting there are no Q words in Papiamentu ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Hilary--"oranje" (Dutch spelling) is indeed Dutch! It's so much fun to see everyone wearing orange -- not just for Queen's (or King's) Day but for soccer games, too... Sometimes I get the feeling soccer is more revered than any royal person :D Thanks for the visit!
DeleteThanks for the primer on Queen's day. I knew nothing of this one. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised, Chuck; I knew nothing of it either before I came to Curaçao :D Like I said in response to Keith above, I don't think many non-Dutch know of the holiday--which I find kind of sad, since it's such a big thing in Holland and Dutch territories. Kind of like an in-joke of sorts, I guess. (And now we're all "in"--yay! ;) )
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