The Queen of the Netherlands Birthday
On April 25, in the Blackheads house in the Old town the National Day reception of the Netherlands was held. The National Day of the Netherlands is known as Queensday. On Queensday, the Netherlands celebrates the birthday of the reigning Queen. Formally, April 30 is Queensday, but the Netherlands Embassy in Riga decided to hold the reception to celebrate this at April 25.
The present Queens of the Netherlands, is Queen Beatrix. She succeeded her mother Queen Juliana, who was Queen from 1948 until 1980. Before Queen Juliana, the grandmother of Queen Beatrix, Queen Wilhelmina, was Queen of the Netherlands. Wilhelmina became Queen in 1898. Thus, all the 20th century the Netherlands has had a female Head of State.
In the second half of April, the tulips start flowering in the Netherlands. In this period of the year the Flower Parade is held. All the way from the town of Aalsmeer, near Schiphol airport, where the parade starts, up to Amsterdam, people are lining the streets to see the Parade. At the National Day reception, there was also a wave of orange flowers. Where the colours of the flag of the Netherlands are red, white and blue, Orange is the national colour. This stems from the Royal family: the House of Orange-Nassau.
Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Germany Mr. Henning Simon, Deputy Head of Mission of Embassy of Netherlands, Mr. Cornelis J.Groeneveld, and Counselor of the Embassy of Russia Mr. Evgeny Tikhonov
Mr. Evgeny Tikhonov and the Ambassador of Ukraine H.E. Mr. Anatoly Olyjnik
