FESTIVAL
THE REASON ORANGE IS A PROMINENT COLOR IN THE NETHERLANDS IS BECAUSE OF THIS ROYAL NAME AND OF COURSE BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY ’ S PREVIOUS FLAG .
When Princess Wilhelmina was born , her father King William the Third was 63 years old . Before the Princess , the King had three sons , but two of them had died prior to the birth of the Princess . The King ’ s living son Prince Alexander and his uncle Prince Frederick were the first and second in line for the throne , while the Princess was the third heir . When Wilhelmina was one years old , her uncle Prince Frederick passed away and after she was 4 years old , her brother Alexander also passed away . Thus , she was made heir to the throne , since neither her father nor her uncle had any children . When the Princess was ten , she lost her father , the King , and became the Queen of Netherlands as just a child . The celebration surrounding her birthday changed its name within just five years since the inaugural event , being then called Koninginnedag , or the Queen ’ s Day in English .
In 1949 , the throne passed to Princess Juliana , the only child of Queen Wilhelmina . The date of the festival also changed to April 30 , in honor of the new Queen ’ s actual birthday . Similar to her mother , Juliana also didn ’ t have any male heirs and the throne passed to her oldest daughter Beatrix . This queen , however , did not change the date of the festival and Queen ’ s day continued to be celebrated on April 30 during her reign . In 2013 , the country had twin celebrations since the crown changed heads during Queen ’ s Day . After 123 years , a King sat on the throne and the name of the festival again became known as King ’ s Day . The date also changed at this time to celebrate King Willem-Alexander ’ s birthday , April 27 .
The dynasty of the Dutch Royal Family is named Orange-Nassau . The reason orange is a prominent color in the Netherlands is because of this royal name and of course because of the country ’ s previous flag . On King ’ s Day , people of the country dress in orange colors to show their pride and loyalty to the House of Orange- Nassau . The celebrations start a day early on Koningnacht and the color orange rules the streets with numerous decorations on canals , streets and parks . Visitors from all around Europe flock to the festival . The Royal family visits a different city or district in the country every year as part of the celebrations .
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