The King’s Day in the Netherlands will be celebrate on April, 26.

This is a national holiday declared in 2014. We’ll all remember taht Queen Beatrix decided to resign last wee. So it was to choose a national day which is the anniversary of the new King. Fortunately, there are only a couple of days away from the anniversary date of Queen Beatrix.

The idea was to maintain the tradition of a holiday to celebrate the monarch of the Netherlands. It is normally lionized on 27 April. But this year, the 27 falls on a Sunday so it has been decided to observed holiday on Saturday 26.

The day officially commemorates the birthday of Willem Alexander who became King after the abdication of Queen Beatrix on 30 April 2013. In the Netherlands, the tradition of a holiday to honnour the current monarch began before the World War II. Initially it celebrated the birthday of

Queen Wilhelmina on 31 August. belgium had the same tradition with November 15th as Saint-Leopold but we, belgians, kept this date for the newer kings.

King’s Day is the biggest national event in Netherlands. The Netherlands people traditionally celebrate this day by dressing in orange clothes, painting faces and hair orange and wearing orange crowns. There is music shows, fairs, flea markets and parties throughout the country. The King and his family go on tour in order to visit one or more Dutch town and celebrate with the people.

Solene GUDIN