Queen’s Birthday

The 30th April every year is a national holiday for the Queen’s birthday (Koninginnedag) in the Netherlands. It is a day celebrated with street parties, open markets and public concerts.

In the Netherlands Queen Beatrix usually visits a couple of towns to see traditional dances and craft demonstrations. The Dutch royal family is known as the House of Orange and on the Queen’s birthday there are orange banners everywhere. People wear orange clothing or accessories and even food and drink is sometimes coloured orange.

The night before 30th April is also a holiday (Koninginnenacht) for the Dutch and many bars and clubs hold all-night parties.