King’s Day will not be on King Willem-Alexander’s birthday next year: Here’s why

Hip, hip, hoera! 🎉

The Dutch king will still blow out 58 birthday candles in Doetinchem in 2025 — but the monarch has changed the date of his celebration.

Alright, it wasn’t the King changing the date of his birthday, but a loophole.

While King’s Day is traditionally celebrated on April 27 of each year (a la the King’s birthday), April 27 falls on a Sunday in 2025.

We all know that it would be irresponsible to let the Dutch go wild drinking beer on a Sunday (imagine the Monday hangovers! 😬), hence the Saturday date instead.

Okay, okay, it’s probably not a hangover-related decision, but the Netherlands Government Information Service explains that this always happens if the reigning monarch’s birthday falls on a Sunday.

The good news? King’s Day 2025 is on a Saturday! Start the beer chilling now.

Fun fact: King Willem-Alexander was nicknamed “the Prince of Pils” in university for his spectacular beer-drinking efforts. 🍻

To Doetinchem, and beyond!

The 2025 festivities will take place in Doetinchem, northeast of Nijmegen and nestled in the green Achterhoek region.

The King celebrates his birthday with the royal family in a different city every year.

Locations of past King’s Day celebrations

  • 2024: Emmen
  • 2023: Rotterdam
  • 2022: Maastricht
  • 2021: Eindhoven
  • 2020: Palace Huis ten Bosch
  • 2019: Amersfoort
  • 2018: Groningen
  • 2017: Tilburg
  • 2016: Zwolle
  • 2015: Dordrecht
  • 2014: De Rijp and Amstelveen

Will you be celebrating King’s Day next year? Tell us in the comments below!

Feature Image:RVD
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺https://gallivantations.com
Sam has over six years experience writing about life in the Netherlands and leads the content team at DutchReview. She originally came to the Netherlands to study in 2016 and now holds a BA (Hons.) in Arts, a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and (almost) a Masters in Teaching. She loves to write about settling into life in the Netherlands, her city of Utrecht, learning Dutch, and jobs in the Netherlands — and she still can’t jump on the back of a moving bike (she's learning!).

1 COMMENT

  1. Walter
    Walter

    The Real Person!

    Author Walter acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
    Passed all tests against spam bots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.

    The Real Person!

    Author Walter acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
    Passed all tests against spam bots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.

    Sunday (imagine the Monday hangovers! 😬), hence the Sunday date instead.

    Please adjust to Saturday 😉

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related posts

Latest posts

Always getting checked at the self-scan? Here’s why (and how to avoid it)

Are you allergic to time-consuming queues and awkward Dutch supermarkets’ zelfscankassas have your back. Well… until they betray you with a random check...

Hiking around the Zaanstreek: 9 perfect walks in the ultimate Dutch region

Sure, the classics like Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are nice (and well worth a visit!), but why not go beyond tourist attractions and...

The Northern Lights lit up Dutch skies last night: Here’s what it looked like

If you stayed up late last night, you might have been one of the lucky ones to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights...

It's happening

Upcoming events

The latest Dutch news.
In your inbox.