Queens Day, april 30, is a very important day for the Dutch.
It was the birthday of our former Queen, Queen Juliana.
She loved to celebrate it with her family among the Dutch people.

When her daughter Beatrix took over, she decided that Queens Day would stay as it was. A day for Queen and the people.
After Queen Juliana died Queen Beatrix expressed the wish to add a special meaning to Queens Day: she wanted it to be a day in honor of her mother.
In a way celebrating Queens Day on a spring day is far more convenient. The Queens birthday is january the 31st, so not really a day to spend in the open air.

This year, the 25 years of her reign are celebrated.

In Europe are several monarchies that differ in the way they communicate with the people and in the position the monarch has in relationship with the government.

The Netherlands is a true democracy and the parliament is an important part of our government.

But we are also a monarchy. The Head of State is a King/Queen. Thus the Monarchy and the Dutch government are closely intertwined.

A true democratic monarchy can only excist when it honors the rules of democracy, which is strongly the case in The Netherlands.
There's a complex relationship between government and Queen. The government is responsible for what the Queen says or does, and the Queen controls the democratic processes of the formation of political decisions.

At her inauguration on april 30 1980 the Queen made the pledge to keep and secure the Statute and the Law of our country and to protect the freedom of the inhabitants of our country.
The representatives took the pledge of loyalty to our Queen.
So there's a mutual relationship between the Queen and the representatives.

Apart from being Head of State and part of the government, our Queen is Head of the Nation, and thus symbol of its unity and continuity.
She is the only person who represents all of us in every aspect. (Which includes the Law.
Laws are used, and judges work "in name of the Queen".)

The way our Queen symbolises this unity is, for example, by being present at national events, by giving comfort to people who are facing grief or have witnessed a disaster (like she was comforting people who lost family and friends by the christmas tsunami).
And also by stimulating good initiatives, warning when problems tend to disrupt life, and by honoring outstanding behaviour.
She also represents us all on her travels abroad.

There is a strong bond between The Monarch and the Dutch people, which can be seen through the history of society.

The Netherlands is a special country.
It's very little, but wellknowm among many people all throughout the world. Not only because we've won our land from the sea by hard labour, but also because we are a trading nation and have sailed all seas.
The Dutch society consists of a wide variety of people, ways of life, worldvisions, religions and cultures.
One could say that the whole consists out of minorities.
People have alwasy been very aware that living together means striving towards compromise instead of confrontation, real tolerance in daily life, sharing and valuing individual initiative, and adhering to the rules and law.
The King or Queen has always been the symbol of unity in variety.
Even though there's little space in our country, we've always been able to live together and to welcome new influences.
That's why we've always been a save haven for those who fled war and agony.

Only the last years things are changing.
When large countries closed their borders for fugitives, our borders remained open, untill we were no longer able to handle the large amounts of people wanting to live here.
As a consequence of our international orientation influences of intolerance spread to our country too.
Slowly and unseen undermining the way we lived together as a unity.

We had our experiences with terrorism in the past, but we have coped with it and overcome it.
The new terrorism though gets far more attention and the new media have far more power to impregnate our minds with the ideas of other countries.
This has led to recent misunderstandings between some large groups in society. But we're finding a new equilibrium like we always have done. In the way that is ours: having a lot of public and straighforward criticism and discussions.
A way not always understood and interpreted right by other countries.

Our Queen Beatrix has seen a lot of opposites during these last 25 years and she has always been very interested for the problems and opportunities that came with these characteristics of our country.
She went and still goes often to people and groups of people in the country to see how they work and to hear what they think and feel.
Thus enhancing the strong bond that has already been formed by the Queens before her.

We are very aware that during times that worldvisions, religions and cultures in our society differ a lot the general rules and law, the common institutions, and the symbols become more important.
That's why our fundamental national legislation aims more at institutions, formal rules and shared ways of life than on politics.
There's a traditional variety of political views and we are proud of that variety.
However, these last years some groups felt the need to impose their views on others, thus violating the traditional ways of living that guaranteed freedom and peace.
They pay less respect to the way or country is organised to give everybody a voice.

Looking back one can only conclude that during the time we became an "immigrationcountry" the society changed towards more individualism.
And with that the rules and regulations and the common ways of behaviour between people and organisations changed. This means that with growing differences the ways of coping with these differences has diminished.
So we need to work on more and even a new awareness of the merits of our political system and the rules within our society.
That means more efforts towards a better education of all groups of society about our history, our special characteristics and our place in the European community and the world community.
And also spreading better knowledge and understanding about our country, including the oversea parts, among people outside our country.

Ofcourse this Silver Jubilee of our Queen is a good chance to do so.
We celebrate with our Queen our past and we focus our attention on the present and the future.