Who preceded Rutte in the corridor to the King?

The language is formal. At a little before eleven on Friday evening, the King’s Cabinet announced that the King ‘has considered the request for resignation and has requested the Prime Minister, ministers and state secretaries to continue to do whatever they deem necessary in the interest of the Kingdom. ”

But then the corridor to the palace follows – a cabinet can resign, only the King grants the resignation. Rutte has already made the corridor to the palace, cycling through the Haagse Bos and then up the steps of the steps of Huis ten Bosch. Just as his predecessors Balkenende, Lubbers and Den Uyl had to report to the King – now Willem-Alexander, then Beatrix and Juliana.

An hour

In 2006 Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s consultation with Queen Beatrix lasted an hour. An afternoon earlier, three D66 ministers had resigned after the D66 faction had lost confidence in Minister Rita Verdonk (Foreign Affairs, VVD) after a late-night debate about the passport of MP Ayaan Hirshi Ali. This followed a sharpened debate in the Chamber about integration and asylum, partly due to the pardon arrangement and after the murder of Theo van Gogh. With that, the Balkenende II cabinet of CDA, VVD and D66 fell.

Sit still?

The Den Uyl cabinet, the most progressive in post-war history (PvdA, D’66, PPR, KVP and ARP), had been hanging by a thread for some time in 1977. There was disagreement about various issues, in the end especially about a new expropriation law. Agricultural land had to be expropriated for housing. Some of the ministers wanted to take the use value of land as a starting point, others wanted the market value. The ministers did not agree among themselves. The newly formed CDA party (KVP, ARP and CHU) thought briefly about asking Queen Juliana to refuse the resignation, in an attempt to mend the rift. That failed.

No crisis

A political crisis does not have to be the reason for dismissal. The Lubbers III cabinet (CDA and PvdA) served its entire term, 1,749 days, before Ruud Lubbers made his way to the palace. He knew his way around flawlessly, he had had weekly consultations with Beatrix for ten years. Lubbers I also completed the five-year term, Lubbers II fell due to a conflict with the VVD parliamentary party over the fixed travel expenses.

The queen would ask Lubbers back as an informateur, there are still rumors that this is how she exerted her influence on politics. Since 2012, the King no longer has a role in the formation. He still appoints all new ministers and state secretaries.