Monday 30 April 2012

Queen's Day 2012


The Netherlands celebrated today Queen's Day (Koninginnedag).

Most of the people were dressed with orange clothes (the colour of the Dutch Royal House).

From Koningindag 2012

The atmosphere was great!

Live music here and there,

From Koningindag 2012

and Dutch flags almost everywhere... ;-)

Before we went to Almere Centrum to join the festivities, we watched on TV the official celebrations. This time, Queen Beatrix visited Rhene and Veenendaal. Every year, two cities/towns are visited by the Queen and the Royal Family. 


In the end of the celebrations, the Queen showed her gratitude for the quality of the celebrations ("so many enthusiasm, so many activities, so many participants"). As you may know, her second son, Prince Friso, was buried under an avalanche last February, 17th, in Lech, Austria, while skiing off track. On March 1st, Prince Friso was transferred to the Wellington Hospital in London, the city where he and his wife have lived for many years. It remains unclear if he will ever regain consciousness and come out of his deeply comatose state.

Take a look at these videos to see how generally amusing and simple are the official Queen's Day celebrations and how the Dutch Royals like to participate in most of them.

Games




Exhibition of local crafts



Paintings




If you are living in the Netherlands, how was your Queen's Day?

If you are living elsewhere, have you ever been in The Netherlands on Queen's Day?




6 comments:

Sami said...

Happy Queen´s day for yesterday Sandra! The celebrations seem fun. I always had the idea the Dutch Royal family was less formal than the rest of the royals, and they really are!
Didn´t know about the Prince´s accident, that´s so tragic.
PS: I loved those huge knitting needles on that rug, it will be finished in no time at all!

Jacoba said...

Wat een leuk feest, hé, Sandra?!
Je hebt er een leuke en interessante post van gemaakt!
Groeten,
Jacoba

ana said...

Que giro, um dia bem passado!
Beijinho, Sandra!:)

Angela said...

A festa também foi grande aqui em Amsterdão!
Passámos o dia todo a andar pela cidade, de um lado para o outro, a tentar "absorver" o mais possível :)
Foi um pouco cansativo, mas valeu a pena. Foi um dia muito bem passado,e ainda pra mais esteve um tempo fantástico!!

Bjinhos :)

Unknown said...

It looks like you had lots of fun in Almere for Queen's Day! I usually don't go to the city on that day but try to get away from the crowds and the celebrations, so we went to Weerribben and had a quiet day in the middle of nature, instead.

Anonymous said...

I love your photos, they are really catching the atmosphere. Congrats!