Exuberant Royal Jewels on King’s Day in the Netherlands

On Saturday, the Dutch royal family gathered together for one of the most joyful royal events of the year: the annual King’s Day celebrations.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands led the royal party as they arrived for Saturday’s King’s Day celebrations. The festivities are held annually on King Willem-Alexander’s birthday, April 27th, and rotate to different Dutch cities and towns each year. This year’s celebrations were held in the town of Emmen, which is located in the northeastern part of the country near the German border.

Queen Maxima chose an ensemble in shades of green and white for this year’s celebration, pairing a leafy dress from Natan with an exuberant butterfly headpiece by the designer Berry Rutjes. The butterfly theme is linked to Emmen, which is known as the Butterfly City.

Queen Maxima sensibly kept the rest of her accessories on the more muted side, wearing pearl and diamond earrings, a pearl and diamond bracelet, and a diamond and pearl ring.

Here’s a closer look at the interesting diamond setting that surrounds the ring’s central pearl.

The King and the Queen were joined by their three daughters, Princesses Amalia, Alexia, and Ariane, for the celebrations. All three incorporated jewelry borrowed from their mother into their ensembles for the event.

Princess Amalia was elegant in gold, pairing modern hoop earrings with hair ornaments that also paid tribute to Emmen’s city symbol.

The golden butterflies come from Queen Maxima’s jewelry collection. They can also be worn as brooches. Mode Koningin Maxima reminds us that they come from Celedonio, an Argentine jewelry firm. Maxima owns several pieces from the brand, including her iconic spider brooches.

Princess Alexia’s earrings were hidden behind her hair in most of the pictures from the event, but here you can glimpse a little bit of them. They also feature floral drops, and they come from Queen Maxima’s jewelry box, too.

Princess Ariane went for big, bold jewelry for the day. She paired a gold lightning bolt necklace with gold earrings, also borrowed from Queen Maxima. Mode Koningin Maxima tells us that the lightning necklace comes from the Argentine brand Aracano.

The extended royal family showed up for the birthday celebrations, too. Here’s the King’s sister-in-law, Princess Laurentien, wearing one of her signature vibrant outfits with big flower earrings.

Several of the monarch’s cousins, Princess Margriet’s sons, were also there with their wives. From left to right here are Princess Aimee, Prince Floris, Princess Annette, Prince Bernhard, Princess Marilene, Prince Maurits, Princess Anita, and Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Orange-Nassau.

All of the Orange-Nassau princesses wore modern jewelry for the event. I’ll highlight just a few pieces of particular interest. Here’s Princess Marilene, wife of Prince Maurits, wearing a gorgeous pair of mixed-metal statement earrings.

And here’s Prince Pieter-Christiaan’s wife, Princess Anita, wearing a lovely pair of sparkling earrings and a necklace with several modern circle pendants.