When Jacques Tichelaar attended the inauguration of the new king, he was not the only representative of Drenthe. Several residents of the province were then invited to attend the coronation. Orange fan Finie Zwols from Noord-Sleen was also among them. She may not have ‘really’ met him, but she was there.
“Oh, I have to pick it all up again,” she says when asked about that day ten years ago. “A friend of mine from Gieten, who is also a collector, told me that you could send an email asking if you could go to the ceremony.” People were selected from each municipality. “And I was allowed,” Zwols says matter-of-factly. Her friend, who also emailed on behalf of Zwols, was not invited herself. “I felt very sorry for her, you know.”
That day Zwols boarded the bus in Hoogeveen and took it to Amsterdam. “There we were received and guided into the city center with a police escort. People waved at us,” she laughs. After a few checks, the group went to the Nieuwe Kerk.