Last week on King’s Day, a national holiday, we were in Maastricht. Sipping coffee on a terrace a young guy passed by with a cardboard protest sign denouncing the monarchy. He seemed a bit angry and nervous, in the midst of all those who were simply out for a nice day, regardless of the monarchy.

The day after we were in Maastricht again and I came across this graffity. Not monarchy, anarchy! it read.

They might be right, but are also missing the point. King’s day is about a lot of things, but only nominally about the king. A long time ago for a number of years I helped plan and organise the (then still) Queen’s day activities in Enschede. That too for me was mostly to ensure a good day of festivities for about a hundred thousand people.