Sylvia's Journal

Today is the Queen’s Birthday, Koninginnedag, again. I think I wrote about this before. It is not really Queen Beatrix birthday but her mother’s. Beatrix was born on a cold winter day, not a good day to go out on the streets and celebrate. So the government made April 30 the forever Queen’s birthday.

But today is different because Queen Beatrix vacated the throne in favor of her first born, King Willem Alexander. His name makes one think of Russia and England, two nations once intertwined because of royal and imperial blood relations. I can’t remember the Dutch role in all this, but here he is, our new King. Axel was the first to tell me this morning. I am still a happy carrier of a Dutch passport, so I have a king now. Amazing, after three generations of Queens.

Our new king is married to an Argentinian. His mom, his aunt Irene and his grandma also looked for mates outside our borders. In the olden days of kings and queens and emperors, this made sense because such unions created or tightened strategic alliances. I don’t think these things matter much now. I presume she will be our new queen (not Queen).