“Our history contains much to be proud of. At the same time, it also offers learning material for faults to recognize and to avoid in the future,” King Willem-Alexander, the ruling monarch within the Netherlands, mentioned in a video message printed on the royal family’s verified YouTube account on Thursday.
“We cannot rewrite the past. We can try to come to terms with it together. That also applies to the colonial past. Instead, a collective effort is needed that goes deeper and lasts longer. An effort that unites us rather than divides us.”
The carriage — recognized colloquially as “De Gouden Koets” — has been on the heart of fierce debate lately.
King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands attends celebrations marking his forty ninth birthday on King’s Day on April 27, 2016, in Zwolle, the Netherlands. Credit: Michel Porro/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
King Willem-Alexander added, “The Golden Coach will be able to be driven again when the Netherlands is ready. And that is now not the case.
“All residents of this nation ought to have the ability to really feel that they’re equal and get the identical alternatives. Everyone ought to have the ability to really feel a part of what has been in-built our nation, and to the happy with that. Also these Dutch residents with ancestors who weren’t free within the East or the West.”
“As lengthy as there are individuals who reside within the Netherlands who really feel the ache of discrimination each day, the ache of the previous will solid its shadow on our time and it isn’t but over.
“Listening to and understanding each other are essential conditions for getting to reconciliation and taking away the pain in people’s souls.”
Addressing the Dutch public, he mentioned the Golden Coach could possibly be pushed once more on Prince’s Day “only if we take this road to reconciliation together,” describing it as a day when “we celebrate our democracy and our solidarity as Dutch people.”
He didn’t specify a date when the carriage could possibly be used once more.
