On the picture The King and the Queen of the Netherlands, Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien.
By Duke Michael of Mecklenburg & Baron Henri Estramant.
Saturday, 26 September, Amsterdam: Their Majesties The King and Queen of the Netherlands accompanied by HRH Princess Beatrix attended a gathering at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam to mark the end of the celebrations in the framework of the kingdom’s 200th birthday.
Thereafter the festivities were finished off with performances around the Magere bridge in the Amstel river.
Other prominent Oranjes present during the celebrations included:
HRH Princess Margriet and Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven
TRH Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien
HRH Princess Irene
HRH Princess Mabel van Oranje-Nassau
TH Prince Bernhard and Princess Annette van Oranje-Nassau
HH Prince Floris van Oranje-Nassau
The evening’s topic was “Eenheid in verscheidenheid” (Unity in Diversity).
The latter meant to symbolise the homeland that the Kingdom offers to a plethora of cultures, life styles, dialects, traditions, persuasions and opinions.
Exactly two hundred years ago, King Willem I, was installed in Amsterdam as “King of the Netherlands”. Previously between 1813-1815 the foundations and legal frameworks for the recognition of the Dutch provinces as a united kingdom were laid out.
In total there were six large national events organised in the framework of “200 years Kingdom of the Netherlands” by the national committee in charge of the celebrations. Since November 2013 the aforementioned national events took place in Scheveningen, Den Haag, Sint Maarten, Maastricht, Zwolle and finally in Amsterdam.
Just a few days before on 15 September the Dutch Royal Couple had formally opened the new session of Parliament on Prinsjesdag. Of particular relevance was the fact that this year the King and Queen were joined by TRH Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien who returned to live full-time in The Netherlands after many years abroad.
For more information:
200 years “Kingdom of the Netherlands”: www.200jaarkoninkrijk.nl
Final celebrations on the site of Blauw Bloed: www.eo.nl/blauwbloed/aflevering-detail/blauw-bloed-20150926t194515/
