The city of The Hague (south of Amsterdam) is the seat of the political capital and the seat of the government. As a teenager, Kairos’ mother visited the city to catch a glimpse of Queen Wilhelmina as she descended from the Golden Carriage.

After descending from the Golden Coach, the Sovereign disappears into the Hall of Knights to read the “Speech from the Throne.” This speech is similar to the “State of the Union” in the USA and takes place in the afternoon of the third Tuesday in September. On that day, the golden carriage with the reigning Dutch royal used to be escorted by guards on horseback to the Knight’s Hall. The pageantry and pomp and circumstance rival those of British royalty.

However, after its restoration was completed in 2021, the golden carriage has rightly been subject of debate due to one of its side-panels called “Tribute of the Colonies,” which is now criticized as celebrating something close to slavery. As such, King Willem-Alexander, the grandson of Queen Wilhelmina announced in 2022 that only if no Dutch citizen feels “the pain of discrimination” and the Dutch have learned from the past will he start using the Golden Carriage again. For more information, see: https://www.goudenkoets.nl/