27/04/2021
Long live the King ! / Leve de Koning !
Today, we celebrate 👑-the national day of the Netherlands.
On behalf of the entire Dutch community in Ghana, I would like to congratulate His Majesty King Willem Alexander on his 54th birthday. I convey our congratulations also to Her Majesty Queen Maxima and the other members of the Royal Family.
Kings Day has a special place in the heart of the Dutch. Kings Day, more than anything else is very much a people's day, a day of national unity, a day on which everybody and everything turns Orange. A vivid and colorful celebration with music shows fairs, flea markets and cultural events all across the country and the Royal Family making a tour in some part of the country.
Like last year, however, Kings Day will be very different in view of the continuing corona crisis.
The Dutch will celebrate their Kings day in a very sober manner, and mainly at home. King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and their children will spend the day in the City of Eindhoven, at the High Tech Campus of the world famous Eindhoven Technical University, and celebrate Kings Day from there largely in an online setting.
Throughout the corona pandemic, King Willem-Alexander has shown himself more than ever a force of unity and togetherness, which the Royal Family in the Netherlands, the House of Orange, has always symbolized. A King, who knows his people, connects, understands comforts and sympathizes in times like these, but also inspires, encourages and leads. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima did, over the last year, more than one hundred working visits across the country – physically and online – to express their solidarity with the people in these special times and to exhale confidence that, together, we will overcome.
The corona pandemic may have changed the world, but not the excellent relations and friendship between the people of the Netherlands and the people of Ghana. In these unprecedented times we have been standing shoulder to shoulder with the government and people of Ghana to fight against this disease, protect our peoples and overcome this crisis.
Let me wish all our Orange Partners which have supported us over the years, but also all other Dutch-affiliated businesses and organizations active in Ghana, all possible strength to get through these extraordinary times. I am very confident better times will come soon.
I wish all my compatriots in Ghana a befitting Orange at home-celebration and I thank our Ghanaian friends for joining us.
-H.E. Mr. Ron Strikker, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana
📸 RVD/ Patrick van Katwijk
