The Christmas speech by King Willem-Alexander could be interpreted in two ways this year. In the hall of Huis ten Bosch Palace stood a father of three daughters, the youngest of whom – Ariane – is now also eighteen. Daughters with their own characters, who seek their own path and make their own mistakes. The father encouraged himself and other parents: “Parenting also means loving letting go.”
He talked about a world in which he would prefer not to see his daughters grow up. Where mistakes are punished ‘severely’, where young people are ‘afraid of being judged’ on their appearance, background, sexual orientation and performance. A world in which “disagreements and conflicts are brought to a head” and people threaten each other. A world with lack of freedom, compelling algorithms, pollution and climate change.
The Christmas speech therefore sounded more personal than usual for the quick listener – although this speech is always one of the more personal that Willem-Alexander gives in a year. Sometimes the king is admonishing at Christmas, sometimes understanding. This year he sounded more philosophical.
And also more worrying than in other years, because of the summary of what is going on in an uncertain world. More worrying, for example than in 2019 when Willem-Alexander told young people that no one has to be perfect: “Don’t worry if things go wrong. Give yourself some space. It’s okay.”
Now the king said: “It is allowed to make mistakes at any age!” That’s one repeat of last year. Then he said: “To make mistakes is human. In fact, making mistakes and learning from them makes us better people. A harsh culture of accountability makes our world inhospitable.”
So the ‘okay’ was again in his speech, but it was expressed less directly and was more aimed at those who should respect young people, who should know better themselves. Willem-Alexander wanted it to be “beautiful [zou] if each generation had as its first goal to hand over the world to the next generation in a slightly better condition.”
Offering hope and stability to all residents
There was also a king in the hall who wanted to offer all residents of the Netherlands hope and stability in uncertain times. Although he did not mention concrete examples of wars or disasters, as before. Nor did he talk about meetings with Dutch people or working visits somewhere in the country that inspired him in recent months.
The Christmas speech may therefore have sounded more abstract to those who are not parents or who consider themselves educators. But there was certainly an encouragement for everyone. After his worrying summary came the phrase: “That does not mean that we are powerless. There is so much we can do close to home.”
This was also reflected earlier in his Christmas speeches. In 2018 the king said: “We are less powerless than we think.” In 2023 he asked rhetorically to his listeners: “What can we do here? [spanningen in de samenleving] do it yourself?” His answer this year: “That starts with: being careful with what connects us.” Connecting is one of the tasks he gave himself as king in 2013.
He referred to his inauguration speech that year by saying that the “international situation has not become more favourable” since then. Even then, Willem-Alexander said that there may be the idea that you have no control over the world, but that “our strength” does not lie “in isolation, but in cooperation”. Now he said that “resilience and self-reliance are essential skills,” “but without a community in which people look out for each other, listen to each other and support each other, it won’t work.”
The hope that the king wanted to offer during this Christmas also lay in small things: in the reference to the Christmas story and thus the possibility of the future. In the four Advent candles behind him as signs of hope, peace, joy and love. And in his almost last words, which can be interpreted both literally and figuratively: “We have left the shortest day behind us.”
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