Tensions, polarization, uncertainty. It is not the first time that King Willem-Alexander has… his Christmas speech signals that Dutch society is suffering from this. This Christmas Day he said it this way: “Sometimes you no longer understand what motivates others. So close and yet often strangers to each other.”
The king made a link with the world outside the Netherlands – Gaza, Ukraine, wars in various African countries – to make it clear that it is difficult to withdraw from what is happening elsewhere. And how tensions there can have an impact here. A metaphorical “raising the dike” will not help, said Willem-Alexander.
As in previous years, the king tried to encourage people. But he made it clear that he believes it takes hard work to bridge contradictions. To keep the peace. More laboratory than ora it requires more work than praying. It takes courage to give others space, Willem-Alexander said.
And just like other years, his message was: “Get involved. Then there is every reason to look to the future with hope and confidence.”
To connect
That exhortation – which sounded more compelling last year than this year – fits in with the task the king gave himself ten years ago at his inauguration: connecting and encouraging people. He keeps coming back to this in his Christmas speeches, the more personal of the speeches he gives in a year. One of the common threads is thanking those who are committed to a better Netherlands. However, unlike in recent years, this year there was hardly any discussion of who the king and queen spoke to this year, and who therefore inspired him to make this speech.
However, there was a scolding: for those who damage the community by “intimidating, threatening and insulting”. And a warning that the democratic legal order offers “support and security”. “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable,” the king said.
Those who heard it merely as a warning to the forming parties: the king also mentioned the rule of law in previous Christmas speeches. Last year, for example, Willem-Alexander pointed out that “democracy does not mean that those who shout the loudest get their way.” When he reflected on 75 years of liberation in 2020, the king said that the “free, democratic constitutional state” should be cherished and defended: “Because only it offers protection against arbitrariness and madness.”
Pilots
The passage in which he mentioned his hobby was striking; Willem-Alexander, who is a regular guest pilot for KLM on the Boeing 737 and also sometimes flies the government aircraft, spoke about “we pilots”. According to him, this profession shares mistakes and learns from them.
To err is human, said the king. And then calls on each other “not to be strict all the time.” “The harsh culture of settlement makes our living environment inhospitable. It also prevents us from moving forward and finding solutions.”
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A certain form of optimism can be heard in the king’s Christmas speeches. In 2015 he described the Netherlands as a “country to feel at home in”. In 2018 he called the Netherlands “one of the best places in the world to live, work and enjoy life”. Willem-Alexander repeated this on Monday: according to him, the Netherlands is “still one of the very best places in the world”.
But just before that was his strongest warning: “There is no second Netherlands. We make this country together.”