Amsterdam prepares to crown Dutch King Willem-Alexander

30. 04. 2013

Amsterdam prepares to crown Dutch King Willem-Alexander


The number of people in Amsterdam could double on Tuesday, as the Dutch city hosts the crowning of a new king.

 

Willem-Alexander will become the first male monarch of the Netherlands since 1890.

 

The Dutch royal family is known as the House of Orange-Nassau, so it is hardly surprising souvenir shops are seeing a roaring trade in anything in the national colour.

 

"Everybody has to wear orange! the best-selling (stuff) is the the t-shirts, sweaters and also boas, like this," said Elise from Janssens & Janssens.

 

 

Venezuelans Astrubal and Reina have been the best customers. They have lived in the Netherlands for over 10 years and love everything about the Dutch royals.

 

"We love the colour orange! And it suits me very well!" said Reina.

 

"They (the dutch royal family) are very friendly, very approachable, not so stiff like some other royals!" added Astrubal.

 

Though he is the first king in 123 years, some, like André Krouwel, a political scientist at Amsterdam's Vrije Univesiteit, say Willem-Alexander owes his popularity to two women.

 

"While we are saying that we will have a king, I think what's very important is that we're also going to have a queen actually. Maxima is more popular actually than Willem-Alexander, equally popular to the current queen Beatrix, which says something (as) she just entered the royal family," explained Krouwel.

 

euronews correspondent in Amsterdams Olaf Bruns said: "It's all about symbols and the king will essentially be a symbol of national unity. His last real political role of choosing who puts together a coalition government after elections was scrapped by parliament a year ago."

 

Source: Euronews

 

Amsterdam prepares to crown Dutch King Willem-Alexander