Amsterdam and Beatrix did not get off to a good start. There were riots when she married Claus in 1966, and at her inauguration on 30 April 1980 the city seemed to be at war: under the slogan No housing, no coronation, squatters and riot police fought for hours in the centre. Read more in the coronation riots of 1980. From then on the queen preferred to celebrate Queen's Day elsewhere in the country.
A secret plan
So it was on 30 April 1988. The official visit was to Genemuiden and Kampen. But behind the scenes Beatrix and mayor Ed van Thijn had come up with something else weeks earlier: an informal visit to Amsterdam, to replace the bad memories of 1980 with a better one. According to Van Thijn, speaking in 2013, prime minister Lubbers was presented with a fait accompli; the government information service always denied this.
At half past one the queen said goodbye in Kampen. An hour later she was in Amsterdam. With Prince Claus and the three princes she boarded an ordinary canal boat of the Kooij company, which sailed via the IJ and the canals to the Jordaan, where the street market was in full swing.
The kiss
The surprise was complete. Beatrix shook hands, was offered little presents and spent a guilder at the market that Van Thijn had given her. One woman refused to believe it was the real queen: wasn't she in Overijssel?
And then it happened. In a narrow street a local man grabbed the queen, called out that she should give him a kiss and gave her two, with a hug. According to the book Hier gebeurde het, it was outside number 7 on the Tweede Leliedwarsstraat. In the footage of that day the queen laughs it off warmly. The man vanished into the crowd; only years later, in 2008, did his name become known: Maarten Rijkers.
Reconciliation
For many Amsterdammers this was the moment the city and the House of Orange made up after 1980, and the photo of the kiss went down in history as the kiss of Amsterdam. Walk through the Jordaan today, along the Egelantiersgracht and the Bloemgracht, and you will find no sign of it. But every King's Day the neighbourhood is once again full of street market, just like then.
More about royal days in the city? Read how Queen's Day became King's Day.
- 01That same morning Beatrix was still in Genemuiden and Kampen. An hour after leaving there she was in Amsterdam.
- 02The royal family arrived in an ordinary canal boat of the Kooij company.
- 03Beatrix paid at the street market with a guilder from mayor Van Thijn.
- 04One market visitor refused to believe it was the real queen.
- 05It was not one kiss but two, plus a hug.
Sources (7)
- NOS: Markante momenten Beatrix
- NH Nieuws: Regering wist niets van verrassingsbezoek Beatrix in 1988 (2013)
- Ons Amsterdam: 130 jaar koninklijk feest in de hoofdstad (2016)
- Rederij P. Kooij: koningin Beatrix aan boord (Wall of Fame)
- MAX Magazine: Koninginnedag nieuwe stijl (2024)
- Amsterdam Museum: Biografie van Amsterdam
- Peter-Paul de Baar en Peter de Brock, Hier gebeurde het (boekentip)
