Monday 29 April 2013

Our World Tuesday, The Netherlands,




Tomorrow our new King will have his inauguration. He will not be crowned, but his crown will be lying on a table together with the other regalia. The reason why the Crownprince will not be crowned is that this inauguration is a state affair. There is a separation of  Church from State. So there cannot be a member of the church ( in this case the Dutch Protestant Church) to crown him. In a former post I said that the crown  was too big and too heavy  for the royal heads, but that was of course meant as a joke.  ;) Lol.

Wikipedia says:

"In 1840, when King Willem I abdicated and a new crown was made. This small crown contains no real diamonds or pearls. It was made of gilded silver, balls covered with fish skin and glass with coloured foil behind it. The lining was made of red silk. Willem II and his successors chose not to wear it, but to leave it on a special table during the ceremony when both the King and the States-General take the oath.The crown was used in royal funerals.
In 1898, 24 of the 74 pearls were removed as the crown was prepared for the installation of Queen Wilhelmina. The crown has not changed since then. It was the monarch's private property until 1963. It was given to a foundation controlled by the Royal Family and has never been on display, except for the investitures of 1898, 1948, 1980, a funeral in 1934 and an exhibition in 1990."

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our new logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.


4 comments:

Leslie: said...

I imagine it will be televised - hope you have a wonderful and memorable day.

eileeninmd said...

It will be a day remembered in the history books. I am sure there will be some celebrations too! It is a very exciting time for your country. Thanks for sharing, I will try to catch it on the world news. Have a happy week!

Sylvia K said...

Such a very interesting and informative post for the day, Wil! An exciting time for your country! I did so enjoy learning more of the Netherlands history! I hope you have a great week!

Roger Owen Green said...

You in the Netherlands take the church/state separation more seriously than the US, which has a muddled position on same.
Interesting stuff - monarchies in democracies are fascinating.