Orange is not a flattering colour. Orange clothing would come very high on a list of What Not To Wear. However, Orange is the official celebratory colour in the Netherlands in honour of the annual Queen's Day holiday. It's not actually Queen Beatrix's birthday on April 30th, but it is the birthday of her mother Juliana who abdicated on this day in 1980. No matter, the Dutch have seized on today as their annual opportunity to drink, celebrate, drink, party and drink. The national character is usually fairly serious but, for 24 short hours every year, the Dutch throw as good a party as any other nation. And then, after the hangover's lifted, they go back to being fairly serious again until the next Queen's Day comes round.
To prepare for Queen's Day you need to find something orange to wear. Anything orange will do. Dutch clothes shops do a brisk trade in anything of that colour in the run-up to April 30th for all those who like at least to try to look fashionable. No self-respecting Dutch teenager dares to venture out of the apartment on Queen's Day without orange comedy headgear, or some badly-sprayed orange hairdye, or both. Crowns are very popular, particularly this year the orange inflatable type. A lot of the locals also like to draw a bit of blue, white and red Dutch flag on their face, which then looks as if they've smeared Aquafresh toothpaste all over their cheeks and forgotten to wash it off. The streets all have to be orange too, bedecked by orange balloons and bunting, ready for the crowds to appear.
The orange crowds appear on the orange streets of Amsterdam early on the orange morning. They stream into town from the central station and spread out across the city until the whole of the capital is one giant party zone. The streets are lined with stalls selling drink, food, drink, party stuff, drink and yet more orange clothing for anyone who's come unprepared. It's like a giant street market, and everybody is out on the streets to experience the day. There's music playing all around the town, some live, and the lager flows freely all day from bars in the street. Local pubs charge people to use their toilet facilities, but the canals remain free for the bladdered who've lost their inhibitions.
Here are four things you don't see much in Amsterdam on Queen's Day:
• sober people
• bicycles - which is good because you can walk around drunk without fear of getting knocked down.
• trams - ditto.
• pictures of the Queen - which is odd because the party is all in her honour.
Queen's Day is a great day to be in Amsterdam, not least because it's not your council taxes that have to fund the clean-up afterwards. Maybe the British Royal Family should instigate an annual Queen's Day bank holiday in the UK - it could only only improve their popularity and, based on the Dutch experience, everyone would really enjoy another day off.
Queen's Day
