King’s Day (Koningsdag in Dutch) is a national holiday in the Netherlands celebrating the reigning monarch’s birthday.
On 27th April, the entire country celebrates King Willem-Alexander. This tradition started with Queen Beatrix in the 19th century when she decided to keep the celebration of her mother’s birthday which was April 30th, 1909. Whenever a new monarch is crowned, the date changes accordingly. On King’s Day, most people have the day off work and spend time together while observing a number of traditions.
One of the most widespread traditions, as you will notice, is that everyone is dressed in orange. Not only is this the national colour, but it is also part of the royal family’s name, the House of Orange-Nassau.
Join us in wishing happy Koningsdag to all our Dutch users! And if you’re learning Dutch, you will be happy to know that you can find many resources and speeches here on the Speech Repository and on this dedicated page on the Knowledge Centre on Interpretation.