King’s coach no longer ‘racist’

Amsterdam – On a blustery autumn day in 2015, Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima for the last time stepped out of the golden coach which traditionally transported them to the opening of parliament.

Nearly six years later, the monarch was back yesterday to unveil a newly restored carriage – but this time as the centrepiece of an exhibition at the Amsterdam Museum exploring the Netherlands’ troubled relationship with its colonial past.

The horse-drawn carriage called the “De Gouden Koets” has been embroiled in a racism controversy over a picture on the left-side panel of the opulent coach, which has undergone an extensive refit.

Called “Tribute of the Colonies”, the image depicts kneeling black people handing over produce like cocoa and sugarcane to their white masters.

A young white man is seen giving a black boy a book as he is presented by his father, an image which painter Nicolaas van der Waay in 1896 said was meant to portray “civilisation”.

Margriet Schavemaker, artistic director of the Amsterdam Museum, said the carriage, long used by the Dutch royals for baptisms, marriages and other occasions, “has also become an object of controversy”.

“In ongoing debates it has become known that one of the panels depicting the Dutch colonial past is making a large group in the Netherlands uncomfortable,” Schavemaker said.

The carriage underwent extensive restoration in September 2015, shortly after its last parliament trip, in a day marked by pomp and ceremony when the Dutch royals are traditionally driven through the streets of The Hague.

Last year, the government announced that, amid the controversy, its return to ceremonial duties would be postponed following the refit and it would go on show at the museum instead.