1 February 2002
The Nationaal Oranje Comité and the municipality of Amsterdam organised a huge party at the ArenA, home of the football club Ajax Amsterdam. The programme of the evening, that was kept secret till the end, offered music, theater, acts and dance. The theme of the evening was "More together, together more".
On Friday afternoon Christine and I took the subway from Amsterdam centre to the ArenA. Christine had managed to get two tickets for the party via her work, not even two weeks ago, and invited me to come with her. We were quite enchanted to be among the 50.000 people from all over the country who had been able to get a ticket and came to the ArenA with 650 busses, extra trains and own transport. Some were invited by municipalities, others by companies or organisations. When we arrived we saw people queued up in front of the entrances, but happily at our own entrance we were able to enter immediately. Finally inside it turned out we were just in time for the warming up programme and enjoyed it. Meanwhile we had a look at the ArenA and the people around us. Many people dressed in the national colours orange, red, white and blue and everybody looked relaxed and happy.
Finally at 19:00 the ouverture started with music from all 12 provinces of the Netherlands as well as Aruba and the Dutch Antilles. Each province had sent a band that played the provincial anthem or a song that came from the area. I was surprised to see Advendo from Sneek, my hometown, playing for the province of Friesland. The more bands came in the better the sphere in the stadium became. Some well known songs were sung loudly by the public among them "Tulips from Amsterdam" and the last Dutch Eurovision Songcontest winner (from 1975) "Ding a Dong".
At 19:45 the party really started with the spectacular entrance of hostess Loes Luca, who came in a white limousine, while the bands played Rossini's 'La gazza ladra'. Meanwhile we also saw royal guests entering the royal box. Christine and I were happy we both had small spy-glasses and to our surprise we had quite a good look at the royal box. Loes Luca started welcoming Queen Beatrix and her guests and made everybody, including Queen Beatrix and Prince Johan Friso laugh, when she joked: "But for you everything isn't always easy either! This is already the second prince who flies out, so it becomes more and more quiet in the palace." Afterwards she started practising the entrance of the Prince of Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta with the public and made us laugh when she ordered Prince Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn to translate what she said for the foreign guests. And then they finally came in an oldtimer, while we all were shouting loudly: "Surprise!". Everybody was sheering and waving, including the royal guests, and the couple enjoyed very much being driven around the arena so everybody was able to see them sitting and waving in the open back of the car. Máxima wore a wonderful red pantsuit. Then they walked up to the royal box, sat down and the real programme began.
Known and less known musicians and artists from the Netherlands succeeded each other: Willeke Alberti ('Morgen ben ik de bruid/Tomorrow I am the bride'), Marco Borsato ('Binnen/Inside'), Kasba ('Hada Rai'), the National Ballet ('Groosland/Brandenburg Concerts'), Trijntje Oosterhuis ('You are so beautiful'), Ten Sharp ('You'), She got game 'extended' ('Places you find love'), Zuco 103 ('Peregrino'), Liesbeth List & Frank Boeyen ('Heb mij lief/Love me'), Brainpower ('Overal/Everywhere') and Van Dik Hout ('Stil in mij/Silent inside of me'). Finally the wedding song 'Lopen op het water/Walking on the water' was sung by Marco Borsato and Sita and everybody sang along. Between the songs and shows also small films were shown. One of them showed youth photos of the Prince of Orange and we could see the Prince of Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta enjoying it very much, allthough the Prince of Orange himself seemed a bit relieved when it was over. Looking at her reactions Máxima would have liked to see much more of these photos.
I enjoyed myself listening to the music and observing the royal box that was full of interesting people. In the lighted part there were two rows of people of which I was able to recognise most of them.
Front row: Juan Zorreguieta with girlfriend (?, flirting all the time), Princess Christina of the Netherlands, Princess Irene of the Netherlands, Mariana and Martín Zorreguieta, Mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen with his wife (I think), Máxima Zorreguieta, the Prince of Orange, Queen Beatrix, Prince Johan Friso, unknown (lady in waiting?), Princess Laurentien, Prince Constantijn, Inés Zorreguieta, Marcela Cerruti, an unknown couple, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Pieter van Vollenhoven and another unknown couple.
Back row: Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, Prince Ferdinand and Princess Elisabeth von Bismarck, Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Sonja and King Harald V of Norway, Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela, the Prince of Wales, Queen Noor of Jordan, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.
We also saw Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium just after they had entered the royal box. And the newspaper said that also prime minister Wim Kok and his wife Rita were present.
It was not until Saturday a woman of the organisation standing at the stand below them told me that below the lighted part next to Dutch politicians some more royals were seated, most of them of the younger generation: Prince Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau Van Vollenhoven with his wife Annette, the Prince of Asturias, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and on television I also saw Prince Maurits and Princess Marilène van Oranje-Nassau Van Vollenhoven, Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. The woman also told me that some students who were seated just below the younger royals had started singing 'You are so beautiful' for Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who didn't really knew what to do with it and seemed to be very glad the serenade was over.
Just after 21:00 the national wedding present - the Oranje Fonds (Orange Fund) - was handed over to the Prince of Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta. The fund, of which the Prince and Máxima will be the patrons, is levelled at the mutual alliance between the various cultures in the Netherlands. In the future the fund will expand activities aimed at youth, sports, culture and education. So far 3.600.000 Euro was given by people and companies. The couple came down to the arena and Loes Luca gave another of her humorous speeches and wished the couple 'lots of luck tomorrow, and also for all the days afterwards'. With the arms around each others shoulders the Prince and his fiancée listened. Soon Loes Luca asked a little boy on a bicycle to come in. The boy stopped in front of the couple and then an orange ribbon came down from the top of the ArenA. The boy tried to get it down, but the Prince of Orange had to help him. That gave us an hilarious view: after the boy pulled the ribbon down, the Prince of Orange put him back on the ground and while the boy got away the Prince was totally covered with the orange ribbon. 250 Students dressed for a ball came in and volunteers came in with the letters "ORANJE FONDS!'that were put on the ground in front of the couple. The Prince of Orange gave a short speech thanking everybody very much for the wonderful present. Then around 21:15 it was time for them to leave, cheered again by 50.000 people and the music of 'At the Amsterdam canals'.
Christine and I stayed at the ArenA as the party ended with a short concert of Marco Borsato, who is one of the most popular singers in the Netherlands, and kept on singing and enjoying the evening. The couple drove back into town and joined the party given at the Amstel Hotel, where most of the royal guests were staying.
Photo and copyright: Netty Leistra