The forecast was not good as all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men set off on the traditional budget day procession through The Hague. But, in the end, the crowds were ten deep, the wind spared the city’s elegant avenues and it did not rain on his parade.
Neeltje van den Driest, 68 and from Veere in Zeeland, was jubilant after King Willem-Alexander’s glass coach rode by. “I saw the back a bit!” she told Dutch News. “I really have a connection with the royals. They feel a bit like family.”
Everyone from local schoolchildren – who had an honorary day off – to tourists and loyal royal watchers flocked to the streets of the political centre of the Netherlands to see the music, parade and the monarch. For many, this was not the run up to the king’s speech and budget day for a doubly-disabled caretaker government, missing two of the four original coalition parties: it was a more chance to wear national colours and think of brighter things.
Orange-hatted Loes Kok and her husband Peter Huegen, from nearby Pijnacker in south Holland, were regulars. “I come every year,” said Kok, 73. “It’s fun and there’s a lovely atmosphere being here together with everyone.”
On politics, though, they were less sunny: even though Huegen will be chairman of a local voting booth, they do not yet know who will win their vote. “It’s a mess,” said Kok.
Huegen, 75, didn’t see much to look forward to on budget day either, on a day when Ipsos I&O research found just three in 10 people have faith in politics. “The current parties don’t do anything,” he said. “They are just there for themselves – they have good jobs. The last time, I voted PVV as a protest. Now I don’t know.”
A group of students studying for the VEVA military training were keen to see the military presence in any case. “We have come with school and it is an extraordinary moment,” said Max Uitdehaag, 17. “I’m not up to date with politics, but I hear that it’s not very stable.”
Positioning
What was more important than policy awareness was clearly positioning – to get the best possible view. Standing at the top of the Lange Voorhout avenue, Rick Neijndorff was equipped with a professional camera and a short ladder. “This is all very fun to see,” he said, fretting about the state of his lens. And the politics? “They can do better.”
Police were on hand to direct tourists such as German 28-year-old Tamara Scherz to a good spot. “I just wanted to see the city and we saw people coming here and asked the police, who said it’s royal day,” she said – adding that Dutch politics doesn’t get much reporting in Germany anyway.
A group of civil servants from the agriculture ministry, who preferred to remain anonymous, had managed to get a prime spot in a fenced-off location for corporate guests. They seemed to be among the few who were there not because of the king but because it was budget day. “It’s an extraordinary political time,” said one, diplomatically.
Others in the crowd were there to recruit for their own causes: for a “trustworthy, multi-year plan”, said a couple of people handing out leaflets, God was the only reliable party.
Van den Driest, her husband and three sisters, were in any case determined not to be put off by darkening skies or complicated politics. After seeing the back of the king, they had a busy day planned. “We go to the hairdresser and make a nice day of it!” she said.
