There are some peculiarities among the Dutch people that are rather alluring: those who ignore their birthdays are considered to be rather anti-social. Contrary to many other countries, where the birthday celebrant is treated, the Dutch celebrant plans and hosts festivities, inviting and treating friends and family, most often at home. We can’t join in the festivities in Amsterdam, but Queen Beatrix, we wish you a very joyous birthday from Pakistan!
Birthday customs involve bringing pastries for colleagues at the workplace, and in the case of children, to send treats for their classmates. When someone turns 50, it is not uncommon for a huge party to be given, sometimes preceded by a day full of activities. Curiously, it is customary to congratulate not only the person whose birthday it is, but also his or her relatives. To say or hear ‘Congratulations on your mother’s birthday’ is quite normal.
In the Netherlands, the royal family and the Royal House are not the same. The royal family is the Orange-Nassau family, not every member of which is a member of the Royal House. By an Act of Parliament, members of the Royal House are the monarch (currently, Queen Beatrix), the former monarch (on abdication), members of the royal family in the line of succession to the throne (Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince Constantijn and their children, Princess Margriet and her two elder sons) and their spouses. Members of the Royal House who marry without the official approval of parliament lose the right to succeed to the throne.
The monarch, together with the ministers, form the government. It was determined in 1848 that the ministers, and not the monarch, would be accountable for acts of government. Laws passed by parliament are signed by both the monarch and the minister accountable. After elections, the Queen invites the vice-president of the Council of State, the presidents of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the leaders of the parties in the House of Representatives to advise her on the formation of a new government.
The Queen then asks one or more informateurs (‘mediators’) to preside over consultations with the leaders of the parties that seem most likely to be able to form a coalition. Once a draft coalition agreement is reached, a formateur will be asked to form a new government. When the political parties have agreed on a programme for the new government the Queen appoints and swears in the new ministers and state secretaries.
Every year on the third Tuesday in September, Prinsjesdag (the state opening of parliament), the Queen and members of her family ride in the Golden Coach from her palace in The Hague to the Ridderzaal (‘Hall of Knights’) in the Binnenhof. Here the Queen gives a speech called the Troonrede (‘Speech from the Throne’) before the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, setting out the government’s policies for the coming year. Prinsjesdag is a popular outing for schools, as well as for grown-ups and tourists who come to The Hague to watch the royal procession and wave to the Queen.
February 2002 saw the marriage of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his popular Argentinian bride Máxima Zorreguieta. In June of the same year, Queen Beatrix’s and Prince Claus’s first grandchild was born to Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien – a girl named Eloise. She was followed by a brother, Claus-Casimir, on 21 March 2004 and a sister, Leonore, born on 3 June 2006.
Also in 2002, to the sorrow of the Dutch people, Queen Beatrix’s husband Prince Claus passed away on 6 October after years of deteriorating health. Prince Claus was a man of dignity and modesty, who managed to fulfil a very public but non-political position with dedication and success. He devoted much of his energy and convictions into translating his love for Africa, where he had lived as a child, into development aid for African countries. Over a period of several days, tens of thousands of people went to Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, where his body lay in state, to pay their last respects.
On 7 December 2002 Princess Máxima, the wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, gave birth to a daughter, Princess Catharina-Amalia. As the Dutch Constitution does not allow discrimination on the grounds of gender, she will succeed Prince Willem-Alexander to the throne, even if he were to have sons after her. On 26 June 2005 the couple had their second daughter, named Alexia. Their third daughter, Ariane, was born on 10 April 2007.
In 2005, Queen Beatrix celebrated 25 years as monarch of the Netherlands. Numerous celebrations and events were held, to which dignitaries and members of royal families from all over the world were invited. Queen Beatrix visited all 12 provinces of the Netherlands in 2005, taking the opportunity to acquaint herself with how things stood in each of them.
A word of advice: don’t overlook a Dutch person’s birthday; such forgetfulness borders on insolence.
