There are a lot of fun events that happen annually in the Netherlands. Here are a few to keep an eye out for:
King’s Day or Koningsdag, April 27
Let’s celebrate the King’s birthday! It is a national holiday, filled with celebrations and lots of orange clothing. It is currently celebrated on April 27, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander.
The holiday started off on August 31, 1885, the fifth birthday of little Princess Wilhelmina. It was initially called Prinsessedag (Princess’s Day) although the name changed to Koninginnedag when she became queen five years later upon the death of her father, the King (her mother was her regent since Wilhelmina was underage). People seemed to enjoy celebrating the young Wilhelmina’s birthday, and the celebration spread country-wide by the time she came of age to be fully queen in 1898, they postponed the inauguration by a week so people could celebrate both.
Wilhelmina had one child, Juliana, born in 1909. In 1937, Juliana moved to the Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, near Utrecht. Soestdijk Palace had been the residence of her grandmother Emma (Wilhelmina’s mother), and the town had held annual celebrations for her birthday. Now with Princess Juliana in town, the celebrations moved to her birthday, April 30th.
In 1948, after the strain of ruling through two world wars, Queen Wilhelmina stepped down from the throne due to health issues and Juliana became Queen. Beginning in 1949, Koninginnedag celebrations were moved to April 30th.
On Koninginnedag 1980, Queen Juliana used her 71st birthday as the time to abdicate, and the day now celebrated her daughter, Queen Beatrix. She decided to keep the holiday on April 30 as tribute to her mother rather than move it to January 31st, her own birthday.
Queen Beatrix, like her mother, chose Koninginnedag as the date to abdicate, stepping down on April 30, 2013. The country now celebrates Koningsdag on April 27, King Willem-Alexander’s birthday. (Convenient, right?)
His daughter and heir, Catharina-Amalia, was born on December 7, so who knows if the future date of Koningsdag/Koninginnedag will move or if she will chose to leave it on April 27 to honor her parent, like her grandmother Queen Beatrix did. I expect it will be a while before we need to answer that question. 🙂
Operation Market Garden
Commemorating the push by Allied forces in September 1944 to liberate the Netherlands during WWII occupation. The final bridge, located in Arnhem, was not taken by the Allies, so technically the operation did not succeed, however much of the southern part of the Netherlands was liberated, and hope for the future was given to those in the north who had to suffer through the 1944-1945 Hongerwinter or “hunger winter” famine.