On the most beautiful autumn day of the year, the traditional driving tour on Prinsjesdag cannot take place due to corona. Everything is different in 2020, including the usual ceremony on the third Tuesday in September. How are you doing? You can read that in this “Kijkwijzer”.
Noordeinde Palace
The Glass Coach will not be driving at Noordeinde Palace this year. No pomp and circumstance: the other carriages and the horses from the Royal Stables also remain inside. No carriage wheel will crackle on the shell path across Lange Voorhout. The nervous bustle that always prevails in The Hague early on Prinsjesdag, with a lot of traffic between the Frederikkazerne (the military assembly point) and the historic city center, is omitted. There is no major military ceremony, just a guard of honor. Tribunes are not built, the costumes from various provinces remain at home. Without a driving tour, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima leave by car from the palace to the Grote Kerk at 1.10 pm. The Ridderzaal is too small due to the corona distance measures. Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien are also there, together in a car, but there is no balcony scene afterwards. Orange fans must watch television. Corona prevents the annual wave moment.
Route
The obvious route runs via Heulstraat, Kneuterdijk and Buitenhof to the Grote Kerk. But the municipality is keeping other options open. Information about this is not given, because accumulations of viewers are undesirable. It can also be done via the rear of the palace, through the palace garden and Torenstraat. The royal party goes to church in four cars.
Big church
Also at the Grote Kerk only limited military ceremonies, including the ensign of the marine corps and the chapel of the royal navy. Not visible to the public, because the surroundings of the church are fenced off. The mayor of The Hague wants to prevent gatherings. The United Assembly of the House of Representatives and the Senate (States General) will take place here from 1 pm, under the leadership of the chairman of the Senate, Jan Anthonie Bruijn. RIVM has approved the set-up. There is room for 270 guests at a distance of 1.5 meters (instead of the usual thousand in the Ridderzaal): ministers, representatives of the people (without partners), three members of the royal household, the presidents of the High Councils of State, and 15 civilians. Secretaries of state, representatives of civil society organizations and ambassadors are absent – with the exception of the longest-serving ambassador, the doyen.
About thirty MPs have canceled, including members of the VVD faction, the PVV faction and, as usual, the SP MPs who are republican. They prefer to watch TV. Their thirty chairs are removed, so that the arrangement is even more spacious.
The committee of in and out, headed by the chairman of the Lower House, Khadija Arib, receives the royal guests at 1.15 pm. King Willem-Alexander then delivers the Speech from the Throne. The two seats on the throne for the king and queen have been transferred from the Knight’s Hall. Those present are not allowed to sing the traditional “Hooray, hooray, hooray” from 250 throats en masse – that would be a forbidden chant – after Bruijn would have shouted “Long live the king”. Bruijn says that “Long live the king. Hooray, hooray, hooray ‘now in a normal voice, to which the MPs may show their agreement with applause or a rumble.
As usual, the NOS is on the spot except reporter Astrid Kersseboom. She is assisted in the commentary by constitutional law expert Peter Rehwinkel, also mayor of Bergen (N-H).
Household
Three members of the royal household will accompany you to the Grote Kerk. They are grandmaster Chris Breedveld, the boss of the royal household and previously director of the Cabinet of the King, who is sitting in a car with grand mistress Bibi countess van Zuylen van Nijevelt-den Beer Poortugael. The fourth car is for the chief of the Military House, Rear Admiral Ludger Brummelaar.
Courtyard
MPs will depart from the Binnenhof to the Grote Kerk by bus from 12 noon. Walking is discouraged due to safety risks. Since CDA Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt was attacked by protesters, extra vigilance applies. There are six shuttle buses, each for fifteen representatives. They must wear masks in the bus. There are special copies with the text “Budget Day 2020”. The return is foreseen at 1.45 pm.
House of Representatives
Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra (CDA) will present the Miljoenennota and the National Budget 2021 with “the briefcase” in the plenary room at 3 p.m. In the meantime, the live broadcast of the NOS from the Statenpassage is already running, with all the political comments. During the General Discussions on Wednesday and Thursday, apart from the Prime Minister this year, only Deputy Prime Ministers Hugo de Jonge (Public Health, CDA), Kajsa Ollongren (Internal Affairs, D66) and Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Christian Union) and the Ministers Wopke Hoekstra (Finance, CDA), Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs, VVD) and Wouter Koolmees (Social Affairs, D66) present in the cabinet section (‘box K’).
More than seven ministers is not possible, Prime Minister Rutte said during his weekly press conference on Friday. The absentees can be consulted remotely by colleagues in the profession. All party leaders will have their say on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Rutte will answer on Thursday.
Town Hall
Mayor Jan van Zanen has called on the public not to come to The Hague on Budget Day. No spectators are allowed at Noordeinde Palace and the Grote Kerk. There is nothing special to do in the city. This Tuesday will be an (almost) normal Tuesday. As always, there is a, now spacious, funfair on the Malieveld and school-going youth in The Hague traditionally have free time on Prince’s Day.
Designated survivor
Now that the State Secretaries have no place in the Grote Kerk, they gather at the initiative of Stientje van Veldhoven (Infrastructure and Water Management, D66) in the Park Overvoorde bunker complex in Rijswijk, which is also the Museum of Population Protection, where they watch television. So they will survive this Budget Day. The identity of the real designated survivor – the minister who is appointed as the prime minister’s replacement when the (almost) entire cabinet is killed in an attack or disaster – remains unmentioned.
