Koningsdag (April 27th) Celebrating the Monarch Dutch Style

Apr 2024 |
Written by – Willem van Hoorn

One particular mirror in which you can closely observe a country’s culture and its do’s and don’ts, is how it celebrates its festivities. And a major yearly festivity in the Netherlands is ‘Koningsdag’ [pronounced koːnɪŋzdɑx, listen]. Koningsdag is the day the Dutch celebrate their King’s birthday, and it is the topic of this edition of the blog.

Koningsdag is celebrated on April 27th, indeed the day King Willem Alexander was born, in 1967. That is unless April 27th falls on a Sunday, traditionally a Christian religion inspired resting day. In that case Koningsdag is celebrated on the 26th. Koningsdag is a national holiday in the Netherlands. Schools and offices are closed, and most people will be free from work.
Egalitarian culture

A distinct characteristic of the Dutch culture is it’s egalitarian character: there is little hierarchy, and if it’s there at all, it is largely hidden. The Dutch easily go on a first-name basis, and the communication is often informal. You can observe something similar in most Scandinavian cultures. Some cultural experts actually say that ‘the Dutch are allergic to hierarchy’. And let me emphasize: the Dutch would not want it any other way!

That character trait of the Dutch can definitively be observed in how they celebrate their king’s birthday. As the website Expatica put it: “Most countries with royalty celebrate their monarch’s birthday with pomp and ceremony. The Dutch, in contrast, hold a giant open-air market and paint the town orange”.
Koningsdag & Koningsnacht
With this description Expatica is completely right. Koningsdag is probably the largest nation wide celebration in the Netherlands. In every town an village you will find flea markets, music performances, games and tournaments. Especially if the weather is good close to a million people might go to Amsterdam, the capital of the country, to attend the many celebrations there. Visitor number wise Eindhoven often comes second, with hundreds of thousands of visitors. You will find many streets and squares closed for traffic that day, and stores being closed, or having different opening hours.

People will all dress-up in orange, and in the Dutch red, white and blue. Many will find a street corner and put a little carpet there, to sell whatever it is they do not need any more. So you could be lucky and find some nice stuff for almost no money. In many cities and towns Koningsdag is preceded by Koningsnacht (the king’s night), with cafes and bars being open (almost) the whole night, and with many concerts and performances.

With the people

Generally the Dutch king celebrates his birthday with and between the people, as much as security measure allow. Yearly the king, accompanied by the queen and his 3 daughters, and often a large part of the extended royal family, visits one particular city or village to celebrate his birthday with and among its inhabitants. A tradition that was initiated more than 40 years ago by the king’s mother, Queen Beatrix.

And that can lead to some remarkable moments, to say the least. Like on that particular ‘Koninginnedag’ (queen’s day) in 1999, when then Queen Beatrix and her family celebrated the day in the village of Houten. As part of the celebrations the royal family took a little bike ride (indeed!). And prince Claus, the queen’s husband and the current king’s father, ended-up with a lady riding with him on the back of his bike for a while.

In many countries, if something like that could happen at all, it would cause an outrage (‘Disrespectful!’ ‘Breach of security, where was the police!’). But the Dutch just thought it was the moment of the day.

The house of orange

Officially the Dutch royal house is known as the ‘House Orange-Nassau’. In short, people also speak of the House of Orange. And the long connection between the Netherlands and this house has resulted in the color orange being the Dutch national color. Many Dutch sport teams (football, field hockey, you name it), when they can play in their own colors, they play in orange shirts.

Compared with some other countries, the Netherlands is not a ‘heavily flag waving nation’. The Dutch largely reserve the flag for official national events. Like Koningsdag, Commemoration Day (May 4th) and Liberation Day (May 5th). If and when the Dutch wave the flag, you can always tell when the occasion has to do with the royal house, because then the Dutch red, white and blue has an orange banner in top.

More info

For info about Koningsdag and Koningsnacht in Eindhoven see the website Eindhoven is King (in Dutch only). More information about the royal house on their own website, and on a Wikipedia page about the Dutch monarchy.

Willem van Hoorn

Willem van Hoorn

He worked as a Policy Advisor Internationalization at Eindhoven University of Technology. He has led several projects and initiatives in the Brainport region to achieve integration and internationalization. When he’s not reading or writing, Willem is often brainstorming for innovative ideas, connecting with others, or bicycling towards the coast. He is an exceptional Dutch Culture Expert and Storyteller!