The short answer
King’s Day, Koningsdag, is the Dutch national holiday on 27 April, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander; when the 27th is a Sunday it is kept on the 26th. People dress in orange and sell their old things on the street at the vrijmarkt, the free market, and Amsterdam’s 850,000 residents are joined by up to a million visitors. Children have a market of their own in the Vondelpark.
A birthday the whole country keeps
King’s Day is a national holiday in the Netherlands. It is kept on 27 April, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander, or on the 26th when the 27th falls on a Sunday.
The day is older than the king. It began on 31 August 1885 as Princess’s Day, the fifth birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, who was then heir to the throne. From 1949 it was Queen’s Day and fell on 30 April, the birthday of Queen Juliana. Her daughter Beatrix kept that date, because her own birthday, 31 January, is in the middle of winter. It has been King’s Day since 2014, and the very first one was held on 26 April 2014, because the 27th was a Sunday.
Why everything is orange
People who take part dye their hair orange or wear orange clothes, in honour of the House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family of the Netherlands. Orange drinks are popular too. The Dutch have a word for it: oranjegekte, “orange madness”.
The one day anyone may sell on the street
The heart of the day is the vrijmarkt, the “free market”: a flea market across the whole country, where people sell things they no longer use. It is the one day of the year on which selling on the street needs no permit, and no value added tax is paid.
In Amsterdam it has been held in the middle of town since 1971. After the wedding of Princess Beatrix in 1966, which was marred by riots in the city, the mood on Queen’s Day had been grim year after year, above all on the Dam. The city’s Orange Committee decided to fill the streets with a market. Today the Jordaan is among the most popular places for it.
What happens to the city
Amsterdam is where many people go for the day. The city centre is closed to cars, and no trams run through the heart of it. People are asked to keep away from Amsterdam Centraal station and to use other stations if they can. Outdoor events have to end by 20:00, so that visitors can get home by train.
The party starts the evening before, and in Amsterdam it is held on the canals as well as in the streets and squares. In recent years the city has taken steps to slow the flow of visitors, because it had become too crowded.
Go to the children’s market
The gentlest part of the day is in the Vondelpark. There the sellers are children, with the toys and clothes they have grown out of laid out for sale. Bring coins. By custom, and in a spirit of fun, passers-by often offer the young sellers more than they ask.
Where to see it
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