There has just been a very special message from Queen Beatrix this evening at 19.00 CET.
She has announced her abucation in favour of her son Willem-Alexander.
We haven't had a King of the Netherlands since 1909. Both of our last two monarchs have abdicated Wilhelmina in 1948, and Juliana in 1980.
I personally think that a monarchy has no place in a modern state, it is a out dated concept. I do know that it is purely ceremonial, but I'm convinced that it's a throw back to a different time.
I have never been a royalist, I bare the royal family no ill will, but I do wish we were a republic.
Congratulations to Her Majesty, Queen Beatrix, on her planned abdication; and congratulations, too, to the Heir Apparent, His Highness, Prince Willem-Alexander, on his investiture this coming April.
Of course, the very idea of a monarchy is a throw back to the values of an earlier age, and has a limited place (if any) in a modern constitutional and democratic state, and, of course, the idea that royal inheritance should trump elected legitimacy as a reason for appointment as head of state is equally outmoded.
Historically, the problem of monarchy - apart from its sheer elitism - has always been the question of a secure succession, one that was accepted by the elites, if not the public. How did you preserve the line, the Family, while ensuring that idiots and cretins (and those born from the distaff side of the blanket) could not rule, even if they were of your blood? How could you relinquish power legitimately, without losing your head? Or dying in your bed? - (And, for much of recorded history these were the bleak choices open to you, in this situation.)
However, more recently, some of the most egalitarian societies on the planet have managed to create, (or encourage the evolution of) societies - and institutional structures - which somehow allow egalitarian values to permeate the conduct of the institutions of the state while simultaneously preserving traditions (such as a Royal Family shorn of most of its power and much of its mystery as constitutional monarchies usually are) that yet still command loyalty and ensure continuity.
An evolving tradition of Royal abdication (where the Monarch is neither overthrown, murdered, nor dies in their bed) allows for a timely and seemly succession, while preserving the outward forms of the institution.
And so the Dutch are to be congratulated for finding a way to make such an office, and position, meaningful, (by encouraging change to take place in such a way) while yet preserving the appearance of respect for a deeper set of traditions which allow for an ongoing accommodation with the past which yet meets the needs of the present. Well done.
