The Dutch Royal House will not use its controversial Golden Carriage decorated with colonial scenes | People

King William of Orange has for now given up the Golden Carriage with which he attends the annual opening of the Dutch Parliament (Prinsjesdag, in Dutch) together with his wife, Queen Máxima. Decorated with colonial motifs, the monarch addressed his compatriots on television on Thursday to announce that he will not use it again until “a profound collective exercise has been carried out that allows all citizens to feel equal, including the descendants of those who were not free”. Presented in 1898, the carriage has been restored and will remain on display until February 27 at the Amsterdam Historical Museum. Afterwards, it will be kept waiting for “The Netherlands to be ready”, as he has said.

Made of teak wood and covered in gold leaf (sheet of this metal), the Golden Carriage is one of the most striking symbols of the Dutch monarchy. On one of its sides there are paintings titled colonies tribute, where half-naked black men and several women deliver the fruits obtained there to the Dutch Maid. This is a young white woman sitting on a throne who personifies the nation, and appears in paintings and statues since the 16th century. The colonies were Suriname (in South America), the former Netherlands Antilles (in the Caribbean) and Indonesia, and the characters represent slaves who collected cocoa, tobacco, sugar, coffee or cotton.

The image of exploitation and submission is embodied with a deceptive aura of harmony, and the king has said that while you can’t rewrite the past, you can “try to learn to live with it, including the colonial past.” In his opinion, it is not about “condemning or disqualifying what happened seen with today’s eyes.” Nor does it seem appropriate to “ban historical objects.” What he proposes is “a joint effort capable of uniting us, because as long as there are citizens who feel discriminated against, the shadow of the past will continue to cast itself over the present.” Only when that unity has been achieved will the float be able to go out on the street again. “It will do so at Prinsjesdag, when we celebrate democracy and our common bond as Dutch people,” he concluded.

The king’s call for unity and reconciliation coincides with the Netherlands reviewing its colonial past. For February 11, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is scheduled to open an exhibition on the independence of what is now Indonesia. It is one of the black chapters of recent history, which left some 100,000 Indonesian dead and nearly 5,000 Dutch soldiers, as well as more than 20,000 Indo-European civilians. The latter, at the hands of Indonesian independence guerrillas. In 2021, the same room presented for the first time the tragedy of slavery in all the overseas colonies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Netherlands abolished slavery in 1863, but in Suriname they had to work until 1873 on the same plantations, for a meager salary, so that the owners did not lose money.

The saloon was last used by the royals in 2015. It was in need of restoration, and in 2021 it was taken to the Amsterdam Historical Museum. Protected by a glass window set up in the courtyard, it was a temporary withdrawal from traffic. In a way, it was also a graceful exit. It has been the centerpiece of an exhibition, and it could buy time and facilitate the national dialogue on the colonial past recreated by the artist Nicolaas van der Waay. The website created in the museum for the occasion recognizes the challenge of this heritage and wonders, for example, if “it is desirable that it continue to circulate during weddings and official acts of the House of Orange”. The restoration cost 1.2 million euros, coming from the item corresponding to the expenses of the Royal House, which the king can distribute, according to his information service. It remains to be seen if the gesture contributes to improving his image. Clumsiness such as a truncated vacation in Greece in the middle of the pandemic, in 2020, and also the 18th birthday party of his heiress, Princess Amalia – with 21 guests when the Government advised a maximum of four – have damaged the popularity of the sovereign.

Queen Wilhelmina, great-grandmother of King William, received the horse-drawn carriage in 1898 for her coronation. She was 18 years old and it was a gift from the city of Amsterdam, but she did not premiere it until 1901, at her wedding. His daughter and granddaughter, Queens Juliana and Beatriz, respectively, also used it at their nuptials. The current kings did the same in 2002. Since 2013, the date of William’s enthronement, he has taken the couple on the occasion of the opening of the parliamentary year. There is another less controversial vehicle at the disposal of the House of Orange: the Glass Chariot. Completed in 1826 for King William I, it has the royal coat of arms of the time painted on the doors and has not attracted much attention to date.