King's Day
King's Day is held on April 27. Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten. Celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday. This event in the third decade of the month April is annual. Help us
Amsterdam’s famous King's Day carnival is held on 27 April and sees over a million people spill into the streets and onto the canals to paint the town orange at one of the world’s biggest street parties.
King’s Day marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander on 27 April, and everyone in the Netherlands gets the day off work to celebrate.
Prior to Willem-Alexander’s accession to the throne in 2013, King’s Day was called Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), and was held on 30 April in honour of the former monarch Queen Beatrix.
Orange is worn on King’s Day as a show of pride for the Dutch royal family – the House of Orange-Nassau. For those with a sweet tooth, no King’s Day is complete without sampling the local tompouce, a sweet pastry loaded with cream that will be all over your cheeks in no time at all. They are decorated with orange icing especially for King’s Day.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
Easter Monday on April 21 (Påskedag in Norway);
Remembrance Day in the Netherlands on May 4 (it was observed for the first time on May 4, 1946. Every year, people dedicate two minutes of silence at 8pm [local time] on May 4 to pay their respects to soldiers and civilians who died during World War II, as well as other military conflicts and peace-keeping missions);
Liberation Day in the Netherlands on May 5 (Soon after the Second World War, it was decided that Liberation Day should be held on 5 May, the date of the German army’s defeat);
Mother’s Day on May 11 (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Dem. Rep., Congo, Rep., Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Gabon, Gambia, Greenland, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe);
Christ's Ascension on May 29 (or Kristi Himmelfartsdag in Norway);
Grandparents and Great-Grandparents Day in Netherlands on June 4 (Opa en Oma Dag has been celebrated since 2004)