I'm been in Amsterdam since Wednesday and with each day the preparations for Queen's Day have progressed. Surrounded by flags and posters and t-shirts all referring to Queen's Day, I thought I'd learn a little bit about it and why it's such a big deal this year.
Queen's Day is like a a big, nation-wide birthday party for the Queen of the Netherlands. The Dutch dress up in orange, the royal color (since their last name, not coincidentally, means orange in Dutch) and hit the streets for a fun celebration. Queen's Day is traditionally held on the Queen's Birthday, which makes sense, right? Well, that was the tradition until the current Queen, Beatrix, took the throne. Beatrix's birthday is in November, which as it turns out isn't the best time of year for a huge outdoor party. So Beatrix decided to leave Queen's Day on her mother's birthday, April 30th.
This year is the last Queen's day because Beatrix is taking a page from Pope Benedict's 2013 playbook and retiring. Technically it's called abdicating, but at the end of the day, Beatrix is ready for some R & R, so her son Willem-Alexander is taking over. This means the end of Queen Day. It will be replaced next year by King Day. And since the heir-apparent's birthday is three days before his mother's, the April party will likely continue for many years to come.
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