King's Day is around the corner! Every year, the Netherlands turns orange on April 27. In 2025, it's a bit different. Discover everything about this festive day in this guide.

What is King's Day?

King’s Day (or Koningsdag in Dutch) marks the Dutch monarch’s birthday and is probably the biggest birthday party you'll ever celebrate. It's a day off for most people, as it's an official national holiday in the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. King’s Day is celebrated with various festivities throughout the country, such as flea markets and festivals. Streets are decorated with orange and red-white-blue-colored decorations and Dutch flags are hung out with a festive orange pennant. Traditionally, the monarch makes a ceremonial visit to one or more municipalities in the country on this day.  

King's Day or Queen's Day?

King’s Day started in 1885 as ‘Prinsessedag’ (Princesses Day). When Wilhelmina became queen in 1891, the festive day changed into ‘Koninginnedag’ (Queen’s Day). Koninginnedag took place on April 30, the birthday of Queen Juliana – the grandmother of our current King Willem-Alexander. It stayed that way until Queen Beatrix abdicated in 2013. Since King Willem-Alexander is on the throne, Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) changed into King’s Day (Koningsdag). Fun fact: many tourists still come to Amsterdam dressed in orange outfits on April 30 for Koninginnedag, while Koningsdag is celebrated three days earlier. Oops! 

We celebrate King's Day on King Willem-Alexander’s birthday: April 27. However, things are different in 2025. As April 27 is a Sunday in 2025, the festive day moves one day, to Saturday, April 26. In 2026, April 27 is a Monday, meaning it will be an official day off. 

Dutch canals in cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht are packed with boats during King's Day.

History of King's Day

During the time of Queen Juliana, there used to be a big parade on Queen’s Day. The entire royal family stood on the steps of Soestdijk Palace in Baarn. People could walk by in a procession and present gifts to the royals. Queen Beatrix chose to go to the people herself, rather than have them come to her. Since then, the royal family visits a Dutch city or town on King's Day. The city and surrounding towns can present themselves festively and characteristically. Most cities do this with a parade, music performances, and contributions from associations and organizations with roots in the city or region. The visit on King’s Day is always broadcast live on television by the NOS. Nice to watch!

The royals visited Zwolle in 2024. © RVD

Dutch people and the color orange

You're doing something wrong if you're not covered head to toe in orange on King’s Day. The reason why you should dress in orange is quite a story. All the orange madness originated from Prince William (Willem) van Oranje-Nassau. During the Eighty Years’ War, the rebels led by Willem van Oranje carried the so-called prince’s flag. This flag had a horizontal triband in the colors orange, white, and blue. The blue and white colors are derived from the uniform of Willem of Oranje and the orange color comes from his name. Over the years, the orange color disappeared from the flag and has been replaced by red. The Dutch could not get rid of the orange color.

Besides orange clothes, lots of food is also colored orange. Especially for King’s Day, bakeries sell orange-colored pastries of all kinds. Think of orange tompouces, orange cream puffs, orange petit fours, orange ‘Bossche Bollen’, and ‘Oranjekoeken’ (orange cookies).

What to do on King's Day?

On King's Day, numerous activities take place throughout the country. This ranges from huge open-air dance events to big flea markets and random parties in the streets. Chances are high that you'll come across some traditional Dutch games. Big parties for 2025 are not announced yet. 

538 Koningsdag in Breda. © Radio 538.