During this week’s Prinsjesdag celebrations, some Dutchies decided to flip off the king, and you may be wondering: can they actually do that? 👀
Technically, nee. If you think the Dutch are so egalitarian that you can freely insult the king — forget it. As always in the Netherlands, things are not what they seem!
This year Prinsjesdag turned out quite eventful for our king — with hostile protesters shouting things such as “coward” at him. A few thousand demonstrators came to The Hague and gave the royal family a piece of their minds.
Scream (at the) queen?
In 2020 the crime of insulting the King was abolished. However, you still can’t get away with it: this is because it’s now being treated the same way as insulting any other public servant — and yep, that’s a crime.
Since January 2020, the Royal family is only protected by the general defamation laws — which are much lesser crimes than the previous “insulting the King.”
Right after the new laws came into force, a man was sentenced to public service for calling Queen Maxima “the daughter of a murderer,” referring to her dad’s position in the Argentinian junta.
What will happen to these protestors?
However, whether the same fate is awaiting this week’s protestors is unclear. First of all, it would be the question of whether calling someone a “coward” counts as defamation.
Secondly, the protestors were hiding in the crowd, making it difficult to actually identify them.
However, if someone is caught defaming the Dutch royal family, they could be fined for as much as a few thousand euros — and may even have to do community service.
Why do people do it?
Many people are upset with the current government, which hasn’t been able to solve the country’s inflation crisis, and they want King Willem-Alexander to take action.
According to the protestors, the King — as the formal head of the government — is a coward for not sacking prime minister Rutte.
While constitutionally, the King could or would never be able to do this (with the little kingdom still being a democracy and all), apparently, this wasn’t their concern.
“The king is at the head of the government. He could have sent the ministers home because things are going wrong in this country. The fact that he does not do that makes him a coward,” Michel Reijinga from the Netherlands tells RTL Nieuws.
The past few months were a steady ride downhill for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte — many Dutch citizens criticise and blame his government because of the rising cost of living, and the level of trust is lower than ever.
What do you think about the protestors’ demonstration? Tell us in the comments below!
I’m very interested to live in Netherland.