The balancing act that the king had to complete on Saturday was a complicated one. After all, the government – of which he is a member – had already apologized for the involvement of the Dutch state in the slave trade. As head of state, what could Willem-Alexander add to that, which both lived up to the high expectations and also did justice to those who do not want apologies?
Clearly a lot. As head of state, he stood there in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam, in front of the monument that commemorates the abolition of slavery. With not only a repetition of the government’s apology, but he said that he experienced it “intensely with heart and soul”.
In addition, an unexpected personal request was added. As head of the House of Orange-Nassau he asked forgiveness “for the obvious lack of action against this crime against humanity”. His ancestors acted according to the law, but morally wrong.
It was an echo of the speech that Willem-Alexander gave on Remembrance Day on an empty Dam in 2020, in which he referred to the role of his great-grandmother Wilhelmina, who had abandoned Jewish fellow human beings. Both speeches are his most personal to date.
The unexpectedness was mainly that when the king was asked in recent months, he always repeated that the government had apologized. In the podcast with Edwin Everson the occasion of his ten-year government anniversary, Willem-Alexander said: “That was a conscious choice from the cabinet.”
After all, on December 19, Prime Minister Rutte had said: “For centuries, people have been made commodities, exploited and mistreated in the name of the Dutch state”. And that successive governments had seen “too little” and acknowledged that the slavery past “had and continues to have a negative impact.” “I apologize for that on behalf of the Dutch government.”
But descendants of enslaved people in particular expect something from the king on July 1, the day on which the abolition of slavery is commemorated and celebrated. And they expect more than a repetition of Rutte’s words.
In Curaçao in January, at the end of a performance about the life of Tula, the leader of the largest slave revolt, historian Jeanne Henriquez had asked him: “I want to ask you if you, as the first king in the world, really want to declare silence on July 1. breaking through.” Then King Willem-Alexander had only nodded.
Read also: In Curaçao, the king talks about slavery
Sorry nonsense
At the same time, the king also had to do justice to those people who find apologies superfluous. One of his assignments to himself is to be “unifying.” He also often said in recent months that he realizes that he is king of all Dutch people, and that it is part of his role to take “just” the group that thinks it’s all a bit much.
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Remko de Waal, ANP
During discussions about the Golden Coach, Willem-Alexander had already noticed how emotions can flare up. On one of the sides of the carriage is the painting of the Tribute of the Colonies: kneeling people of color, symbolizing West (Suriname and the Antilles) and East (Dutch East Indies), offer the white Dutch virgin gifts and pay her respects. Such a celebration of colonialism is, according to some, inappropriate, while others consider the carriage part of a tradition. The Golden Coach is now literally and figuratively parked until a “road to reconciliation” is completed, he said last year.
Read also: Gouden Koets will remain out of use for the time being
In a conversation with journalists on Friday, Willem-Alexander said that during the various conversations he and Queen Máxima had with relatives of enslaved people, there had always been people at the table who thought differently about excuses. The word ‘healing process’ came up often in his answers.
Conversations with relatives
The main result of those conversations was that the king and queen became aware of the pain that still lives, under the skin and in the capillaries. In the podcast with Evers, he says that Article 1 of the Constitution is “wonderful”: “But in practice there is still discrimination.”
In conversations, King and Queen became increasingly permeated with pain that is still alive
And where in 2002, as crown prince, Willem-Alexander, when visiting slave fortress Elmina in Ghana, still spoke of slavery as “a dark period of human relations”, that description has changed in recent months to “crime against humanity”.
The tricky thing for the king, however, is that this slavery past is inextricably linked to his own family. Recently, the research showed State and slavery for the first time what the Oranges earned from slavery: converted to today’s money, more than half a billion euros.
It is known that stadtholders William IV and William V were administrators of the Dutch East India Company and the West India Company, and that although the slave trade with Dutch ships was banned under King William I, it would be years before the trade itself was banned . The king is commissioning research into the role of his family in the colonial and slavery past. That will take a while.
A week ago in conversation with journalists, Willem-Alexander had said about half a billion euros that much more had to come up before he would respond to amounts. And on Friday afternoon he said that everyone should be patient, including himself. That, for example, the Constitution of 1848 stated that the king had supreme command of the colonies, but that he wanted to know what that meant in practice before apologies were made.
On Saturday afternoon, in the Oosterpark, the solution came and King Willem-Alexander remained in balance. A repetition of apologies, a call for connection, respect and reconciliation, and a request for forgiveness. With at the end the words that can be said in the future: times have changed. Ten could turn.
Also read about ten years of Willem-Alexander: the king when hardly anyone is watching
Correction (July 1): An earlier version of this article stated that the King was in Ghana in 2012 as Crown Prince. That was in 2002.