And on May 8 he opened the second Johan Friso lock in Stavoren and visited Super COOL!, an initiative of the Almeerse Ice skate association and Triade in Almere.
King Willem-Alexander received the new 2 Euro coin with a double portrait of Willem-Alexander and Beatrix at the Royal Dutch Mint in Utrecht today, May 21:
King Willem-Alexander opened the exhibition "Seurat. Master of Pointillism" at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo today, May 22nd, to mark the 75th anniversary of the museum.
King Willem-Alexander met with truck drivers at the Europoort in Rotterdam today, June 5, in order to discuss the developments in the sector, the employment law and the rise of Eastern European drivers on the Dutch market.
Today, June 17, King Willem-Alexander opened the summer exhibition "The Big Curve" - a large solo exhibition by contemporary French sculptor Henri Laurens - at the Lange Voorhout in Den Haag.
King Willem-Alexander attended the celebration of 200 years of the Supreme Council of Nobility in Den Haag today, June 23, and received the first copy of the "Coat of arms register of the Dutch nobility".
The king opened the renovated Mauritshuis today. In only two years they were able to double the size of the museum by making a tunnel to a building across the street. The girl with the pearl earring by Vermeer was on tour for most of these 2 years, but yesterday she was able to hand the keys to the gate to the king herself:
Note that the museum was started in 1822, the base of the collection was a donation of 200 paintings by King Willem I. Many of these paintings belonged to his father, stadholder Willem V, and were taken to Paris by the Napoleontic troops. The girl with the pearl earring did not belong to this collection, it was bought by art collector Arnold des Tombes in 1881 for 2 guilders and 31 cents (!). After his death in 1902 he left much of his collection to the Mauritshuis.
The building itself was built for Johan Maurtis of Nassau-Siegen, governor general of Dutch Brazil (area of Recife).
He can only wear one at military events I believe. TBH I don't know anybody who understands the logic of the matter. Just a typical Dutch compromise perhaps.
Ironically, during the parade the king stood in front of the statue of Johan de Witt, a 17th century statesman and a nemesis of the House of Orange, who got murdered by the Orangist mob during the disaster year (1672). Alexandre Dumas wrote about it in the 'Black Tulip' and has stadholder/king William III watching from the window while the mod drags his former tutor through the streets.
He had to quit being an active military man because in the NL a member of the government cannot be an active military man. When he became King he became a part of the government, so that left him no choice.
He did keep permission to wear his uniform for ceremonial events at which he deems a military outfit suitable. He said that because he still feels a strong connection to the military he woul certainly use that privilige, and indeed he does, predominantly at military events..
The King was in daily tenue. When he wears grand tenue or ceremonial tenue, he can wear an orange officers' sash. Since the "investiture" of Don Felipe VI with a "commander sash" I have seen confusions around about the orange sash in the Netherlands. These are worn by all officers (so not only commanders) but only in combination with a ceremonial tenue. This is similar to the British officier sashes. In Dutch it is called "oranje draagband".
When the King wears a ceremonial tenue from the Army or the Air Force, he wears the orange sash which distincts him as an officer but it has not the same meaning as the commander sashes worn in the Spanish Armed Forces. (The Navy has no orange sashes). The King is no longer in active military service. Officers who are no longer in active services but are involved in (honorary or representative or ceremonial) activities linked to the armed forces are allowed to wear an uniform.
Pic: King Willem-Alexander during a parade but now in ceremonial tenue with orange sash: (source Reformatorisch Dagblad)
The old gentleman in the picture with the king is Jules Schelvis, the only survivor from 3000 Dutch Jews who were transported from camp Westerbork to extermination camp Sobibor in Poland. Mr. Schelvis told about his experiences and the orchestra played pieces of Bach in between. Today he will be in Berlin. The initiative was realized by crowd funding, so Mr. Schelvis could continue his mission to raise more awareness of the atrocities that happened during the war.
