The day of the Queen is one of the most important National holidays in the Netherlands. Every year the Queen chooses a city to visit. This year it was Apeldoorn and something unexpected happened. A 38 years old man named Karst Tates attempted to attack the Royal Family while they were parading in an open top bus. His plan was to crash into the royal bus. His car narrowly missed the bus which was carrying Queen Beatrix and her family and crashed into a monument after ploughing through bystanders. He killed six people including three children and one police officer. Later the attacker also died in the hospital. Crown Prince Willem Alexander and this wife, Princess Maxima were chocked and what started has a great day ended in a terrible tragedy for the Dutch people.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/01/dutch-royal-car-driver-dies
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Well I have been living in the Netherlands for nine years and one of my favorite’s holidays is the day of the Queen because everywhere you look is orange, and you get the chance to see the whole Royal Family together in a very informal way. You can sale or the old thinks you have in your house and everyone seems very happy in this day. On this day Holland looks like a small village because everywhere you go you see the same thinks. People selling old thinks dressed in orange and happy. hope that this incident does not change the way people celebrate the Queen’s Day because this would make Dutch people loose a little bit of their identity.
Very shocking is it not? What started as a great day indeed ended in a terrible tragedy. You saw everyone partying and waiting for the Queen to come, and suddenly there was that black car which crashed at the monument. Sad... They say about the man that he had financial problems and that he not even could pay for the rent anymore. People can do strange things when they do not have a solution for their problems.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIndeed a tragedy! I was sitting in the back yard when my sister called me on the phone to inform me about the horrible event. I immediately turned on the television and saw the images of Apeldoorn, the man crashing into "de Naald" and the Royal Family looking extremely shocked. The next day their were pictures of the victims in the newspaper, I could hardly look at them.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenHorrible what happened! What on earth was in the mind of the killer Karsten? I guess we will never know, because he died. All those poor people who have died! Yesterday I saw on Hart van Nederland that the Royal Family returned to Apeldoorn to thank all the volunteers for their hard work. When the royal family arrived they got a big round of applause. This shows that Holland loves them.
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