The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world who still has an active royal house. Although they may not have much of say in politics, they are the image of the country, and loved by many citizens. Since 1885 we have celebrated our monarchy in, what has grown out to be, an annual national holiday.
What started as a birthday celebration for former princess Wilhelmina, has grown to a national holiday. In 1885 'Princess day' was announced in celebration of the fifth birthday of what was to be our future queen, Wilhelmina. When King William III died when Wilhelmina was just ten years old, 'Princess day' became 'Queen's day' and was celebrated on August 31st. The queen's birthday.
When Wilhelmina was officially crowned, one week after her 18th birthday, queen's day started growing as a national holiday. But with the compartmentalization still a big part of Dutch society, not everyone was eager to celebrate it. After WWII people started to lean more to each other, and the compartments everyone was living in started to crumble. In 1948 Wilhelmina's oldest daughter, princess Juliana, took the throne and 'Queen's day' was rescheduled to Juliana's birthday, April 30.
Queen's day started to grow as a national holiday and many people didn't have to work anymore and that day. Schools closed and it became a real holiday in the Netherlands. In 1980 Juliana's daughter Beatrix took the throne and with her coronation Queen's day took a turn. Beatrix decided to let the holiday remain in April, even though her own birthday is in January, to honor her mother. Every year, starting with Beatrix's first Queen's day in 1981, the queen visited a place in the land. To show her people that she was one of them. This tradition still exits till today.
In 2013 Beatrix's son took the throne, Willem-Alexander. He moved the holiday to his own birthday, April 27. He continued his mother's tradition of visiting cities and villages in the land and continues to do so till this day. In a few weeks his fifth King's day will be a fact.
On King's day (as it is called now) the whole country turns orange, the national color. There are many festivities in the whole land and the royal visit is broadcast on television. It is a day where everyone in the country feels connected and celebrates our monarchy. I guess we'll continue to celebrate King's day, till his daughter takes the throne and it becomes Queen's day again. It probably still be in April though, because our future queen's birthday is in December. And that's not the season for a big outdoor event.
