(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
I’m jumping out of my Harderwijk Dolphinarium posts to bring you some breaking News:
Last evening we switched on the Dutch News at 6.00 p.m. to find that there was only one item of news on the News that evening: The Dutch Queen, Queen Beatrix was scheduled to address the nation on all TV and Radio channels simultaneously at 7.00 p.m.
The Press, Royal watchers and everyone who might be in the know all speculated for the next hour on what the big announcement would be, but only one topic was likely: the news that she would be announcing her abdication.
Unlike English Kings and Queens who as one Dutch commentator rather literally put it: ”die in harness”, the last three Dutch Monarchs have chosen to hand over the reigns of the job of Head of State whilst their oldest child was still young and strong enough to take over the strenuous duties of constant travel and public engagements. The Dutch Monarch still plays a strong role in Government and affairs of State, so much so that Queen Beatrix has a working place and offices close to the Dutch Parliament.
Some speculated that since not even privileged Royal correspondents who are often privy to inside information had been forewarned of the announcement or it’s contents that possibly there might be a different reason for the broadcast (with reference to the fact that Beatrix’s second oldest son Prince Johan Friso has been laying in a coma in a London hospital since the beginning of 2012 after being transferred there after being buried by an avalanche in Austria whilst on a skiing holiday.)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
It was correctly assumed that even if there was bad news concerning Prince Friso, that it would not warrant the Queen making the announcement over all TV and radio channels simultaneously.
Indeed the news did turn out to be notification of abdication: Beatrix will be 75 years of age in a few days and is choosing to hand the throne over to her oldest son: Prince Willem-Alexander.
Beatrix herself gained the throne when her own mother, Juliana abdicated in 1980 at 70 years of age, taking her lead from Wilhelmina before her who abdicated in 1948 at 68 years of age.
Some Royal watchers already wondered if it might have been expected to happen a decade earlier when Beatrix’s husband Price Claus passed away in 2002, or when her mother and father passed away in 2003 and 2004 respectively but Willem-Alexander only married in 2002 and I assume she wanted him to have some quality time, less in the public eye with his new wife and subsequent new family of daughters.
Dutch Monarchs are not “crowned”, but instead inaugurated, and since much of Royal life takes place in and around The Hague where the Queen lives and works and were she opens Parliament each year or Delft where Royal monarchs are buried, it’s traditional that this inauguration takes place instead in Amsterdam and so spreads a royal event a little further around the Netherlands.
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
The reason for an inauguration and not a crowning is that the Dutch monarch is the Head of State but not head of the Church (as is the case with the Queen of England) and Crowning a Head of State is apparently linked only to those who are also head of the Church in their nations.
The date chosen for the inauguration will be 30th April, already the national holiday in the Netherlands called “Koninginnedag” (Queen’s Day) and since this is traditionally the day when anyone in the Netherlands may hold a flee-market without the need for the usual licence, it become the traditional day of street markets up and down the country where especially children can sell their old toys for a little extra pocket money.
Himself and I are not generally supporters of Monarchy (and to spite me for this I get two of them: Queen Elizabeth as Head of State of New Zealand on my Kiwi passport and Beatrix on my Dutch one) as I find it hard to reconcile the fact that someone who is not democratically elected gets to live a life of privilege on taxpayer expense and worse, that if Lizzy or her offspring chooses to take a jaunt to New Zealand the New Zealand tax payer is expected to pick up the very hefty bill for these travels …for one of the richest women on earth.
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
At least the British can say that their Queen earns her keep a little by bringing in a few tourists to the UK, meantime she brings the grand total of zero tourists into New Zealand and thanks to the tight knit regulations of the Club called the European Union, no trade benefits either.
It’s not to say I wish them ill, but if I were ever given the chance to vote for a Republic, I would be one of the first at the voting booth to cast my vote. Naturally I might change my tune if Lizzy would be so kind as to return the favour and pick up my bills for a trip to to United Kingdom, hey I’m even cheap because I don’t require half the countries police force to provide security during my visit.
Whilst Himself and I wanted to watch the Queen’s address because it was a historic moment for us as Dutch citizens, Himself’s own republican leanings couldn’t help themselves when it came to light that the inauguration would be on 30th April. He ruefully lamented that technically it’s brilliant timing because Koninginnedag is probably the most nationalistic day in the Dutch calendar, but it will be an especially lousy sales day for about a million Dutch kids as all the adults stay indoors glued to their television sets to watch the Netherlands loose a Queen and gain a King.
The least they could do is to have the ceremony later in the afternoon so that everyone could happily do both but I’m not holding my breath for that one.
Of course we know what will be Page One News throughout the Netherlands tomorrow and in the next months as preparations for the abdication and inauguration take shape… but agree with having a monarchy or not, History is in the making.
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
Beatrix’s mother: Queen Juliana (who was in ill health when she abdicated)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
Beatrix’s grandmother: Wilhelmina
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
(photograph © Kiwidutch via NOS TV News)
I hear you about the royalty thing. I read “Becoming Queen Victoria” last spring and all it did was to give me the opinion that royalty is nothing. There is nothing special about their blood, there is nothing noble about most of them, the men (and some of the women) are a bunch of adulterers, and they are generally useless. One big drain on the tax structure. Just because one man and his army conquered a nation, doesn’t mean his progeny are fit to lead it!
Give me a leader who is voted in- even if I don’t agree with whom the people vote for! At least we have the opportunity to make changes every four years.
Comment by gh — January 29, 2013 @ 3:35 am |
I am a huge monarchist so this was fascinating to me. It made the news here yesterday – I think the last time we had Dutch news, it was a serial killer or a big shooting.
Our monarchy is Britain’s biggest invisible export i.e. it brings in millions of tourists and millions of pounds of tourists’ money, as well as forging trade links around the world and diplomatic ties. The Queen is an avid supporter of the Commonwealth over the EU, but has to be neutral politically.
I prefer a hereditary system because royalty is reared to respect it and to do their duty in return for the privilege; elected officials are too ready to put their hands in the pot. It also gives the country a sense of continuity, of who we are.
People forget – or never knew – that the Civil List, which pays expenses only, was the deal made when the Crown handed over land and more voluntarily to the state. We have a constitutional monarchy, which means it adapts to the will of the people; our royals have always been pragmatic; it is why we still have them.
As for the NZ issue…you make good points and I can’t argue with your logic. It is up to your fellow Kiwis whether you become a republic; I know our Queen will respect your decision, whatever it is. She’s like that.
Comment by Tilly Bud - The Laughing Housewife — January 29, 2013 @ 7:36 am |
I heard this on the news and I think this is the way power should pass in monarchies, when the monarch decides it is time for his or her son to reign. The English monarch never does this. They reign until they die. Prince Charles may die before his mother, for heavens sake. It makes no sense for her to continue her reign. If she had sense she would have over the reigns to him and let him have the power, such as it is. Your way makes sense.
Comment by mairedubhtx — January 29, 2013 @ 3:04 pm |
In the States we have this weird fascination with Royalty; we don’t live with them eating up our taxes, so to us they’re like movie stars. Personally, since for the most part they have little to do with the running of government, I don’t see the point of keeping monarchies around. Being born “royal” is just an accident of birth, anyway, and it must really grate on the nerves of republic-minded citizens to see these privileged few swanning around on their dime. (Tilly Bud up there might opine elected officials with “their hands in the pot” but royals were born with their hands already in it.)
Relatedly: Ummm, I sent off a goodie box to you earlier this week; after this post I realize there might be one little thing in there that is not as clever as I thought…Oooops… My pre-emptive apologies!
Comment by Luddy's Lens — January 29, 2013 @ 3:48 pm |
Like Tilly Bud, I heard the news here in Blighty. I listen to the radio a lot and various hosts through the course of the day were asking if the Queen would ever abdicate, so Charles could have a crack at being King. The general consensus was ‘over her dead body’. And so it may prove to be – if Charles doesn’t fall off his perch first.
Comment by Pie — January 31, 2013 @ 4:44 pm |
I do wish they’d cut down their expenses, they’re already very well paid, probably the best paid of all the royal houses on the continent. And it’s ridiculous. It’s not like they do that much to earn such a hefty sum of money.
I do wish they’d become ceremonial head of state, and stay out of the politics all together. Beatrix was nonplussed when parliament decided she no longer could take part in the formations. And unlike Liz, she absolutely does have some influence, as she’s also a member of the Bilderberg group. I’m neither a monarchist or a republican, I just want my government to do their jobs correctly, swiftly and not leave us in major debt.
Comment by CC — January 31, 2013 @ 8:27 pm |