Breaking: Dutch Queen Beatrix to abdicate tonight?

[Insula Dei]

All hail Willelm Alexander, first of that name!

We're not sure about this, actually. I've been seeing conflicting reports. There's still hope for Willelm IV.

No, there might still have been hope for a Willem IV when you wrote that, though,...

Other observations:

1. Maxima's parents will not be attending the coronation. No particularily big surprise there. (Really, Maxima's 'contacts' are much more problematic than Mabel Wisse Smit's ever were. If Friso had to foresake his claims to the throne over his marriage, Willem-Alexander certainly should have.)

2. Rutte calls for a 'grand yet sober' coronation. Don't know whether I should go 'lolholland' or 'ughrutte' when I hear things like that.

[Insula Dei]

It's a sad reflection on the state of Holland that there probably won't be any smoke bombs on the day of the coronation, like there were in 1980 or when Beatrix married Claus.

[Insula Dei]

It's a sad reflection on the state of Holland that there probably won't be any smoke bombs on the day of the coronation, like there were in 1980 or when Beatrix married Claus.

Why exactly is it sad?

You could hear the crowd shouting in the Nieuwe Kerk while Beatrix took the oath. ('Geen Woning, Geen Kroning', 'No Houses, No Coronation'). That's what the Netherlands were all about back then. Or Juliana scarcely getting her voice over the rumour of the crowd when she announced that she had 'resigned the crown',...