King Willem-Alexander (second left) and Queen Máxima (second right) of the Netherlands pose with their daughters, Princess Ariane (left) and Princess Catharina-Amalia (right), during King’s Day in Rotterdam, on April 27. (Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw photo)
ROTTERDAM--King Willem-Alexander and his family thoroughly enjoyed King’s Day in Rotterdam on Thursday, April 27. “What the city has shown is unsurpassed,” the king said at the end of the day. “All those different people, all those different cultures. I’m on a cloud and enjoyed everything I experienced.”
Spectators wait for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima during the King’s Day celebrations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on April 27. (Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw
photo)
In his farewell speech, the King of the Netherlands thanked Rotterdam residents for their hospitality. “I actually want to ask the mayor if I can do the rounds again. Thank you for letting me celebrate my birthday here with my family in such a great way today,” he said. “We are coming from difficult times, and it will be difficult in the near future, but Rotterdam has shown that if we work on something together, we can have a fantastic Netherlands in the 21st century. You are all kings and queens – no words, but actions.”
King Willem-Alexander attended the day with Queen Máxima, Crown Princess Catharina Amalia, Princess Ariane and several more members of the extended royal family. Princess Alexia could not attend due to exams.
Princess Amalia enjoyed the day to the fullest, she said. “The sun is shining, the atmosphere is good, so I’m doing great. Everyone is here with a big smile,” she said.
She touched on the threats that had rendered her home-bound in recent months. “It’s nice to be among people again,” she said.
The Dutch royals arrived in Rotterdam just after 11:00am Central European Time (CET). They were welcomed by Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, children’s mayor Louey Zerourou, and King’s Commissioner in the Zuid-Holland province Jaap Smit.
Millions of Dutch revellers took to the streets on Thursday to celebrate King’s Day festivities throughout the country, dressing in orange and enjoying open-air markets, even as trust in the man at the centre of the nationwide party sinks to a low ebb.
King Willem-Alexander, whose 56th birthday is the official reason for the holiday, is not nearly as popular as he once was, an annual poll by research company Ipsos showed this week, after vacationing in Greece during the pandemic and flouting social-distancing rules.
Trust in the country’s first king in more than 120 years, who succeeded his mother Queen Beatrix 10 years ago, has fallen to 46% this year, the poll showed, while support for the monarchy as a whole slipped to 55%.
These numbers had held firm at around 75% until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but Willem-Alexander still drew tens of thousands of fans, dressed in orange in honour of the ruling House of Orange, to Rotterdam on Thursday.
