King’s Day is an official national holiday in the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. It’s celebrated every year on 27 April, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. This year’s edition is even more memorable as the King is celebrating ten years on the throne.
King’s Day, which used to be called Queen’s Day and Princess’ Day, has its origins in the 1880’s. Back then, Dutch government officials were looking for a way to promote Dutch unity. Unfortunately the King at that time was very unpopular. But his four-year-old daughter Princess Wilhelmina wasn’t.
Thus, the Netherlands celebrated their very first Princess Day on Wilhelmina’s fifth birthday: 31 August 1885.
The princess was paraded through the streets and waving to the crowds. Initially, it was only held in the province of Utrecht but the rest of the country quickly joined the celebrations. When Wilhelmina acceded the throne after coming of age, the name was changed to Queen’s Day.
The Netherlands had more Queens celebrating Queen’s Day until the abdication of Queen Beatrix in 2014. Since Beatrix’ birthday was in January, she decided to keep celebrating on Queen Juliana’s birthday which was 30 April. When her son King Willem-Alexander acceded to the throne the name was changed to King’s Day and the date of the celebrations was moved to his birthday, 27 April.
Throughout the years it become customary for the extended Royal Family to visit a different Dutch town on King’s Day. This year they’ll visit Rotterdam and the city is gearing up with major festivities.
Should you find yourself in the country for this special day, you’ll notice that everyone is wearing orange. The importance of this colour goes back to the very foundation of the Netherlands. William I of Orange-Naussau led the rebellion against the Spanish rule, ever since then the Dutch wear his colour as a symbol of national pride and unity. After William III, widely known as William of Orange, overthrew the Roman Catholic King James II, it became the color of protestants as well.
While celebrations for King’s Day happen all across the country, Amsterdam, the capital city, is clearly the hot spot. An average of 700.000 out-of-towners join the locals for one of Europe’s biggest street parties. The King’s Day crowds have become so considerable that the city has run into some serious crowd management problems.
In the past there were many large-scale free King’s Day events in Amsterdam. But now they’ve been moved to the outskirts of the city, and most require you to purchase a ticket beforehand.
They’re also limiting alcohol consumption in public spaces. Between 6am and midnight, a person is now only allowed to carry a maximum of one alcoholic beverage. Six-packs and kegs of beer are considered more than one drink and may be confiscated.
Another highlight is the free market “vrijmarkt” that’s being organised from 6am to 8pm all across the city. On this day everyone is allowed to freely sell their belongings in the street. The Vondelpark is specifically reserved for children under the age of 17 to sell their stuff. After the market so-called kringloopcontainers are put up. Here you can leave anything you haven’t managed to sell, and it will be donated to charity.
But regardless which Dutch city you might visit on Kings Day it’s sure to be an unique experience!
