King's inauguration Day 2

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King's inauguration Day, part 2

April 30th 2013

A day to remember!

30 April 2013, a historic day for the Netherlands.

After 33 years Queen Beatrix (75) of Oranje-Nassau, abdicated as Head of State, by signing the official abdication document in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. According to the Dutch custom she reverted back to the title of Princess Beatrix. We wish her a quiet retirement in her lovely small castle named "Drakenstein".
Beatrix' oldest son Willem-Alexander (46) succeeded his mother. He was inaugurated in the New Church in Amsterdam. His wife Maxima became Queen of the Netherlands. Their oldest daughter Catharina-Amalia (9) became and received the title of Princess of Orange (crown princess). Their second daughter Alexia is 7, and the youngest daughter Ariane is 6 years old.

The Netherlands has been reigned by women for a period of 123 years (Queens Emma, Wilhelmina, Juliana, Beatrix) and they did a very good job. Now, for the first time we have a King AND a Queen. The traditional Queen's Day of April 30th will change to King's Day on April 27th, which is the actual birthday of the King. Dutch people traditionally dress in orange on Queen's/King's Day, because of the royal family's name.

Ruud and Ineke were in Amsterdam to experience the festivities on this special day. Here follows Ineke's review on this memorable day. Thanks to John again for his assistance with the English language.

"Wow, wow, what a day!! What a party!! The entire country turned into orange and the capital city of Amsterdam received royal guests from all over the world.

We arrived in Amsterdam the day before and we saw the stages, the press stands, the decorated buildings, the big screens. André had just finished the rehearsals and we saw his silver Mercedes parked behind the fences.

In the hotel we tried on our orange outfits and had a lot of fun about Ruud's orange curly haired wig.

The next day we strolled to the city centre. The atmosphere was wonderful, people were in good moods, selling food, drinks and orange gadgets in the streets. It was amazing to watch the fancy orange creations of the people walking by. On the Dam square we watched on the big screens what was happening inside the Royal Palace and in the church. We spotted a lot of camera crews and we were interviewed by a Canadian TV crew. They did not even ask whether we could speak English, they just took it for granted that we did! They asked our opinion about the royal family and the monarchy. We said we loved them, we honor them by wearing orange, we think they are great ambassadors for our country. Inside the church were royals from Europe and all over the world including Japan, Thailand, Morocco, Oman. And there was foreign press from 18 countries. So... a lot of attention for our small country!

Halfway through the day we received a text message from our granddaughter Natascha, who, together with a classmate was on her way (by bike) to Amsterdam. She lives in a student flat in Almere and biking to Amsterdam will take at least two hours! She was successful in finding us on the Dam square between thousands of orange outfits! (According to the news media, 25000 people were present on the square). After a while she decided to start on her way back, again a two hour bike ride!

We slowly walked through the city centre to the Museum square, with a few breaks for food and drinks and to give our feet some rest. Having a beer on a terrace along one of the canals, watching the boats sail by with people cheering all dressed in orange! What an atmosphere!

On the Museum square we had tickets for a seat on the 4th row. Here we watched the historic mini sail through the harbour by the royals on the big screens. André had to wait until the sailing was finished. It was very cold and André shivered a lot! He started to jump to keep warm, poor guy! The lady orchestra members all had their boleros on.

Highlight of the day (for us) was the André's concert. Again: what an atmosphere! We jumped, danced, cheered, swayed, waved and had a wonderful evening. We met Riet Holmer and we waltzed together and participated in the conga line. We sang along a lot of Dutch songs. After the concert we had a drink together in one of the pubs and then walked back to our hotel. What a day, what a night!

The day after my feet were still hurting, and I had lost my voice. Who cares!

The cleaning services of Amsterdam had a heck of a job to clean the trash.

But thank God no bad incidents happened and we experienced a day we'll never forget. Long live the King!"