Royalty in the News

Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Crown Princess Maxima and Princess Magriet attended the Friday memorial service for those who died from the Queen’s Day attack on April 30th.

The event was held in Orpheus Theater in Apeldoorn, the city where the attack took place.

Before entering the theater, the four royals stopped to meet with the survivors of the attack and their families.

The service itself was closed to the public, with big screen TVs being shown in Markt Square, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered to watch.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and members of the Dutch cabinet were also at Orpheus Theater.

Mayor Fred de Graaf praised the people of Apeldoorn for showing “solidarity and resilience in these dark days in our history.”

“We are one in our shock, we are one in our sadness, but we are also one in our determination to carry on,” Prime Minister Balkenende said.

The ceremony ended with two minutes of silence and the playing of the Dutch national anthem.

In all, seven people were killed and ten more were injured when Karst Tates drove his car through crowds gathered to see the royal family on parade. Tates missed the bus carrying the royals by a few meters before crashing into a stone monument. He later died of his injuries.

Four people remain hospitalized. But Friday saw a 9 year-old girl be discharged.

Before he died, Tates did say he was aiming for the royal family. Neighbors said he had recently lost his job and was due to be evicted from his home.

Tates was hastily buried this week, and there is no stone monument to mark his resting place.

In interviews, his parents said Tates had nothing against the royal family, and that he saw the monarchy as a “stable factor.”

Those remembered at Friday’s memorial:

Wilfrido Plantijn (71), Almere
John Veldhuizen (64), Amersfoort
Netty Martens (50), Zutphen
José van den Berg (55), Apeldoorn
Ad Teunissen (52), Apeldoorn
Roel Nijenhuis (55), Apeldoorn