Cheers for Queen Beatrix and Pieter van Vollenhoven As They Attend Liberation Day Concerts

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven attended two different concerts to commemorate Liberation Day, the day the Dutch celebrate that they were liberated from the Nazis on May 5th 1945.

Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven attended a concert in Wageningen this morning at the Johannes church. He was escorted by the commissionair of the queen in the province of Guelders, Clemens Cornielje and by former Justice minister Winnie Sorgdrager. Spectators gave the professor a loud applause and cheers.

Queen Beatrix attended the national liberation day concert at the Amstel river in Amsterdam this night. The queen was escorted by Els Swaab, chairwoman of the 4 & 5 May comittee. Other guests were prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Yvonne Timmerman-Buck, chairwoman of the first chamber, the mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen and Lieke Gaarland, lady-in-waiting of HM the queen.

The concert at the Amstel river, near theatre Carré and Amsterdam’s skinny bridge, is the traditional end of the liberation day celebration. When the queen walked to her seat the audience gave her an extra long applause, it was the second time in two days that the public wanted to show their support to the Dutch queen in such a way. The royal militairy orchestra ‘Johan Willem Friso’ under the direction of major Arnold Span performed at this years concert. The music programme was very diverse, opera singer Tania Kros sang parts of the opera ‘Carmen’ while Nynke Laverman sung the special ‘sung for freedom’. As each year, Her Majesty left the concert in one of the tour boats, guided by Vera Lynn’s song: ‘We’ll Meet Again’, again under loud cheers of the audience, who did not stay away dispite the rainy weather.

During the opening of the day the prime minister also referred to the tragedy of Queen’s Day, and said that our thoughts should be with the royal family too, as the attack was directed at them.

More on Remembrance & Liberation Day in this TRF thread.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Concert, Liberation Day, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven, World War II.