The Amsterdam Café de Blaffende Vis in the Jordaan is preparing for Queen's day. Traditionally each year they feature a meters high portrait of a member of the Royal House. This time Queen Beatrix is shown as super woman, accompanied by the words: "Be A Hero".

Beatrix, born on 31 January 1938, is the queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba.

Queen Beatrix succeeded her mother as Queen of the Netherlands in 1980. From that date, Her Majesty formed part of the government. The Queen was married to Prince Claus. They had three sons: Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince Friso and Prince Constantijn. The eldest, Prince Willem-Alexander – the Prince of Orange – will succeed her.

The Queen represents the Netherlands both at home and abroad. She makes several state visits to other countries every year, and receives heads of state and heads of government who are visiting the Netherlands.

The Queen devotes much attention to important events in the Netherlands. Following disasters such as the Enschede fireworks explosion and the tsunami in Asia, she expresses her sympathy with those affected and talks to the bereaved.

The Queen keeps herself informed of what is going on in society and every year she attends many openings, commemorations and other official events.

Beatrix was portrayed before as a pharaoh. Prince Willem-Alexander also was portrayed several times, once as 'Daddy Cool'.

Photo by esther1616

The Dutch Royal House have launched their own YouTube Channel and joined the likes of US President Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Pope Benedict XVI and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

The Youtube channel offers both historical and current video on the work of members of the Royal House. There are videos of the work of Dutch Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima and also of throne speeches, wedding speeches and Christmas.

There is also historical footage of Queen Wilhelmina in exile in London, Princess Juliana and her daughters in Canada during the Second World War and an interview with the three Prince Willem-Alexander, Friso and Constantijn just before their mother becomes Queen.

The oldest video dates back to the day of the inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina in 1898.

The Royal Youtube channel will be regularly updated with current and historical videos.

The RVD uses footage of the NIS and the Foundation Sound and Vision in Hilversum.

More information about the Royal Family can be found on the Youtube channel www.youtube.com/koninklijkhuis and the Dutch Royal website www.koninklijkhuis.nl

Calderon welcomed the queen at a ceremony in Mexico's National Palace, where he will host a dinner in her honor.

The queen arrived just before midday for a trip that will include meetings with Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, according to a schedule released by the Dutch embassy here.

Queen Beatrix is also scheduled to visit Mexico City's famous National Museum of Anthropology and participate in a meeting on energy.

The royal will spend the last two days of the trip visiting the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Hidalgo.

In her toast during the state banquet the Queen praised the president and his government to tackle the crisis, which the SMEs are supported. "A strong and prosperous middle class constitutes the backbone of a democratic society." Beatrix also expressed words of appreciation for tackling crime.

The queen is accompanied by Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and his wife Princess Maxima.

"The present time calls for hope and change," said Beatrix.

The Queen began her speech to the General States about the global economic crisis instantly that the the Netherlands has been hit hard. "The speed of events was extreme" said Beatrix.

People are losing their jobs, the number of bankruptcies is increasing and the public finances show large deficits. The impact will be felt for a long time, the queen said, "but the government will not pass the bill on to future generations."

In 2010, the deficit increased to six percent of gross domestic product.

One of the ways to cover the shortfall will be to increase taxes.

Photo by Pixel Addict

The Elephant Parade is founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits. With their project, they aim to raise attention for the Asian elephant, that is threatened with extinction. Their project has proven to be succesful: the first two editions of the Elephant Parade, held in Rotterdam and Antwerp, raised a total amount of over 700,000 euro. The benefits of the Elephant Parade are donated to the Elephant Family, the largest elephant charity in the world and was founded in 2002 by Mark Shand. He is a globetrotter, philantropist and writer and maker of the BBC documentary Queen of the Elephants.

Especially for the Elephant Parade Amsterdam, a tour is set out that will lead you along all the elephants that are located at several hotspots in the Amsterdam city centre: Museum Square, Spui, Westermarkt, Koningsplein, Kalvertoren.

If you’d like to take an elephant home but can’t afford the life-size model, replicas ranging from 4 inches to 30 inches tall will also be on sale in the city center.

The Elephant Parade in Amsterdam is running from 5 september - 31 oktober 2009.

The Elephant Parade will visit London from May to July 2010. Find more details at www.elephantparade.com

Photo by: PjotrP

Seven victims including the perpetrator have died and 8 wounded when a car careered into a crowd of people watching the Dutch royal family riding past in an open-top bus.

The visit of the royal family to Apeldoorn was disrupted Thursday morning when a speeding car broke through the barricades. The driver plowed his car through a crowd with high speed.

People had gathered in Apeldoorn to see the Queen's Day parade, when the small black car plowed into the crowd. The car came to a stop when it hit against the monument of Apeldoorn 'The Needle' at the Loo Palace.

Queen Beatrix was in the open bus with the royal family when the small black car zoomed past. The historical parade on the Boulevard to the Palace was full of people.

Spectators had to jump away when a car plowed into the crowd with high speed. People hit suffered from open wounds and leg wounds.

The Royal family was escorted to safety. "The shock and the images that the family have witnessed, lead to canceling all further celebrations for the rest of the day."

The car was driven by a 38-year-old man who had recently lost his job and had given up his flat because he could no longer pay the rent.
Neighbours describe him as a polite pleasant man who had become more withdrawn in recent weeks.

Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity and "togetherness". During the celebrations as reference to the colours of the House of Orange-Nassau, people dress in the colour orange, which is sometimes called "orange craze.

Next year Queen's Day will also be celebrated in the traditional way, with a walk-about by the royal family. Queen Beatrix is determined there will be no changes.