The royal celebrations were first held on 31 August 1885 in honour of the birth of Queen Wilhelmina, and the Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) tradition was born. After Wilhelmina’s daughter (Juliana) succeeded to the throne in 1949, the day was changed to 30 April in accordance with the new Queen's birthday.
Amsterdam celebrated King’s Day (Koningsdag) for the first time today, after the inauguration of King Willem-Alexander on 30 April 2013 (what was then still Queen’s Day), after the abdication of his mother, Queen (now Princess) Beatrix, making Willem-Alexander the nation's first male monarch since 1890.
Koningsdag is known for its nationwide vrijmarkt ("free market"), at which many Dutch sell their secondhand items; as this event takes over not only the whole city (there have been marked out spots on the pavements everywhere for a few days) but also cities and towns across the country, this is likely the world's largest flea market.
It is also an opportunity for "orange madness" or oranjegekte , for the national colour, which comes from the Royal Family - the Royal House of Orange. When you realise what an unflattering colour orange is, it makes you consider that perhaps the Dutch were reduced to taking whatever colour was left, and orange was all that was available. It is simply amazing how many different items of clothing and other apparel can be sold in orange when associated with King's Day - and I'm sure that most of it is worn only once, and often by visiting packs from England - they were everywhere.
On the day itself, the Royal Family visit various towns and cities outside Amsterdam - but clearly that doesn't stop the locals from partying like it's their day.
The Netherlands is a relatively young country, first becoming a monarchy in 1815, following the end of the French (read Napoleon) occupation; however, the Royal House of Orange had played an important role in its history since 1559 when Emperor Charles V assigned Prince William of Nassau to the post of stadtholder (literally "place-keeper") of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht. William later inherited the title of Orange from his cousin René van Châlon and the family is now the Royal House of Orange-Nassau.
And this might be a good time to clear up the whole Netherlands/Holland thing.
The country's official name is The Netherlands, however, it is generally accepted that Holland also refers to the country. Holland actually as an entity doesn't exist - there are two "states", one called North Holland (where Amsterdam is) and one called South Holland (which is where I was yesterday when I went to Keukenhof). These days, both The Netherlands and Holland are used interchangeably for the name of the country, although Holland does seem to be the most common form - both abroad and locally.
I had a somewhat quieter day than many.
Simone, who I met at dinner last night, was also not in the mood for rampant partying, and while living very central, is in a quieter area of the city, so invited me to come over and we'd take it from there. Of course, to get there did mean walking through the streets (no public transport through the city centre today due to the multitudes of people on the streets).
On the way there at around 10am, it was reasonably quite - no doubt most people were still sleeping off last night. However, the sights and smells of the night were evident, with rubbish piled along the streets, and in places the overwhelming stench of stale alcohol, vomit, and cigarette smoke still lingering.
At Simone's, after a cup of tea, we went for a walk around the area; it was really interesting the changes as you went from one section to the next - from relatively quiet to loud and raucous, and back again, often by simply crossing a street. But overall, the mood was lively, with people thronging the streets and canals, with many boats passing loaded with partygoers and very loud techno duff-duff music blaring; it seems like there must be a competition for the loudest boat!
After stopping for a bite to eat for lunch it was time to head off. It is amazing what a difference a few hours made; by 3pm the streets of central Amsterdam were tightly packed with the revellers, making passage difficult. At almost every street corner there were crowds listening to the thumping music, downing significant quantities of alcohol.