National Post (National Edition)
A 21st-century king
The Netherlands is awash in orange and the Dutch are getting ready to party as Queen Beatrix abdicates in favour of her son Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. As enthusiasm wanes for some other European monarchies, most notably the Spanish, the House of Oranj
PARTY CENTRAL
More than one million people are expected in Amsterdam Tuesday, with 10,000 uniformed police, 3,000 plainclothes officers and an untold number of civil servants assisting in the logistics. The airspace above the city has been closed for three days. Royal guests from 18 countries have been invited, including Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, pictured, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako.
MADE IN OTTAWA
Beatrix spent her formative years in Canada after Ottawa offered the Dutch royal family a safe haven from the Nazis. Friends says Trixie Orange, as she was known then, appreciated such things as ice cream for dessert and the relative obscurity of living in Ottawa. “Their life was as near to being normal as it could be given that they were out of their own country and given that of course [her mother] Juliana was heir to the Dutch throne” Michiel Horn, a professor emeritus of history at Toronto’s York University, who was born in the Netherlands, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
ANY COLOUR SO LONG AS IT'S ORANGE
Carrots were originally purple and yellow, not orange, when Afghanistan’s hill people first consumed them back in 900 A.D. Holland became the leading producer of carrots in the 17th century, as dedicated Dutch growers bred the vegetable to reflect the colours of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange. Nowadays, growers have revived purple, white and yellow carrots.
FIRST KING IN 100 YEARS
Willem-Alexander will be the first Dutch king since Willem III died in 1890. He follows three queens, Beatrix, Juliana and Wilhelmina, whose reigns spanned the entire 20th century. The new monarch says he plans to build on tradition while looking to the future. “I want to be a traditional king first and foremost, building on the tradition of my predecessors standing for continuity and stability in this country,” he said. “But also a 21st-century king who can unite, represent and encourage society.”
REPUBLICAN DREAMS
The Netherlands’ small republican movement is hoping WillemAlexander’s investiture will be the country’s last. “We will have to await political developments — there is draft legislation to get him out of the government — then there is not much left apart from cutting ribbons and the question is whether his daughter will want to do that in 20 years,” said Anjo Clement of the New Republican Society. “We don’t think so. We think he will be the last Dutch king.”
SPANISH PROBLEMS
The Spanish monarchy’s popularity has slumped dramatically over the last year. King Juan Carlos, 75, was criticized for going on a luxurious safariuring Spain’s crippling financial crisis. It also emerged he was holidaying with a lady who was Queen Sofia. He later made an unprecedented apology, but the damage was done. His younger daughter the Infanta Cristina and her husband have been named as suspects in a corruption scandal, a first for a member of the king’s immediate family.