King Willem-Alexander becomes Europe's youngest monarch
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has begun his reign by paying tribute to his mother Princess Beatrix who abdicated in his favour today after 33 years as Queen.
By Bruno Waterfield, Amsterdam
1:29PM BST 30 Apr 2013
- Tens of thousands of Dutch gather in Amsterdam
- Guests at ceremony include Prince of Wales
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, his wife Queen Maxima (R) and their children Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (front, L), Princess Ariane (front, R) and Princess Alexia (C) greet the crowd on Dam Square from the balcony of the Royal Palace Amsterdam.
In an emotional investiture, the first Dutch king for 123 years addressed two thousand guests, including the Prince of Wales, and the country's legislators in Amsterdam's De Nieuwe Kerk church.
Outlining his new role as monarch, King Willem-Alexander honoured his mother as the guardian of Dutch democracy and the country's constitution for the last three decades.
"Wherever the path leads, your wisdom and your warmth I carry with me. Thank you for the many wonderful years in which we were allowed to have you as our queen," he said.
"She stood for the values anchored in the constitution. Dear mother, you were queen in full knowledge of the duties you had you were also a wife and mother, and you were fully aware of your duties there too. You were a great support to us all."
The new king, Europe's youngest monarch, has pledged to be a 21st century royal head of state, even telling Dutch people that they do not have to call him "your majesty" unless they want to.
"As king I want to encourage people to make the most of the opportunities they have. I will represent the kingdom with pride. I want to unite the Dutch, in times of happiness and in times of sadness," he said.
Following the new king's speech and oath Dutch MPs and senator stood up to swear allegiance to the king by saying"So help me God" or "I promise".
All but 16 of Holland's 225 members of the uppser and lower houses of parliament took the oath.
In a formal act of abdication earlier this morning, the Dutch queen became a princess handing over her throne to the Prince of Orange who is now King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
"Today I make way for a new generation," said Queen Beatrix.
Before signing the state documents of the "act of abdication" inside the royal palace in Amsterdam, Queen Beatrix smiled, winked and took her son's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze in front of the cameras.
"I Queen Beatrix abdicate in favour of my son Willem-Alexander," said the legal act.
At that moment, as Queen Beatrix gave away her throne, a crowd of tens of thousands of Dutch people gathered on Dam Square burst into emotional applause, shouting "Thank you Bea", then to fall silent as giant televisions screen showed her in the act of signing away her throne.
People, most of them wearing orange tee shirts, hats or plastic crowns, gather at the Dam Square in Amsterdam
The cheering began again and bells rang out eight minutes later after the signing by all 10 members of the royal House of Orange-Nassau and state officals.
To rapturous applause at 10.30 am, princess Beatrix appeared on the palace balcony with King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen Maxima.
"I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander," she said.
To more cheers, King Willem Alexander then turned to his mother Princess Beatrix. "Dear mother. You have given the kingdom 33 moving and inspired years, which we are intensely grateful for," he said. Facing back to the crowds, he shouted "Thank you".
As the crowd shouted "long live the king", Princess Beatrix told her son, "maybe you should wave a bit" before fetching her granddaughters to the balcony for the national anthem.
Large crowds gather in front of the Royal Palace (R) on Dam Square in Amsterdam
The investiture of King Willem Alexander means that his daughter Catharina-Amalia aged nine, becomes the Princess of Orange, the new heir to the Dutch throne.
Princess Catharina-Amalia attended the ceremony wearing identical yellow and white dresses.
In her farewell speech to the nation on Monday night, Queen Beatrix thanked the Dutch people for over three decades of support and popular affection.
"Without your heartwarming and encouraging signs of affection, the burden would have weighed very heavily," she said.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander succeeds mother Beatrix
Among more than 2,000 guests attending the abdication and investiture will be heirs to monarchies including the Prince of Wales, 64, Prince Felipe of Spain, 45 and Japan's Princess Masako, 49.
The ceremony will have extra significance for Prince Charles, who attends with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall because he also attended the investiture of Queen Beatrix 33 years ago.
Millions of Dutch people are celebrating and Amsterdam's population has doubled with at least 800,000 visitors flooding the city with orange painted faces, orange hats, wigs, flags and banners, the official colour of the Dutch royal house.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands smiles at her son Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and daughter-in-law Princess Maxima
Over 10,000 police officers from all over Holland are on duty in the Dutch capital amid a security scare following the Boston marathon bombings.
The security focus has shifted from public order, there were riots when Beatrix was crowned in 1980, to loners after an attack on the Duch royals in 2009.
Four years ago to the day, a man drove his car at high speed into a Queen's Day parade which included Beatrix, King Willem-Alexander and other members of the royal family.
The vehicle drove at high speed through people lining a street watching the parade, killing eight people and missing the royals before crashing into a monument at the side of the road, killing the driver, Karst Tates.
No motive for the attack was ever established.
Thirty three years ago when Beatrix was crowned queen, riots were started by radical-left and anarchist squatters over the housing shortage in Amsterdam under the slogan, Geen woning, geen kroning or "no home, no coronation".
In today's Amsterdam, police monitoring crowds for loners like Karst Tates while putting the famous Dutch tolerance on display by allowing anti-monarchy protests
"The climate has changed, Amsterdam is a tolerant city. A placard saying 'Down with the queen' won't worry us," said Jan Pronker, the Amsterdam police commissioner in charge of security.
"But when more people demonstrate we will intervene and refer them to the designated protest areas in a friendly manner."
King Willem-Alexander's faces some difficult decisions in the early days of his reign as the Netherlands, in the grip of eurozone austerity, debates the cost of its monarchy, which is the most expensive in Europe.
An IPSOS opinion published on Monday, found that half the Dutch population thinks that the £10 million cost of the investiture ceremony is too high, with 44 per cent wanting cuts to state funding of the royal house.
