"Kingsday" in the Netherlands

Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837).

 

 

Today, it is Koningsdag, ("Kingsday") in the Netherlands. I don't want to write about it, others will do that.
No, I want to pay attention to the first Queen of Holland, or better to say, the Republic of the Netherlands, as they called it in those days.
To be Queen of a Republic is an antithesis, just like a square cirkel.

Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1836), was daughter of
Alexandre Francois Marie de Beauharnais and
Marie Rose Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, born on Martinique.
During the French Revolution, her father Alexandre, has been wrongfully killed under the guillotine.
After that, she met the young unknown Napoleon Bonaparte and they married.
So Napoleon became the stepfather of Hortense and she was very fond of him. Till the end of his life, she supported him.

Hortense was forced, to merry Louis, a brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who called himself Lodewijk, from the moment they led the kingship in the Netherlands.

In the beginning, when Lodewijk had his first speech, he spoke to a large audience in a meeting and said: "I am your King". But this Frenchman, couldn't speak clearly Dutch, so the word "King" had been heard as: "I am your Konijn (Rabbit)". At the back of the auditorium, some people laughed.
He repeated his words "I am your King" and again, the audience heard the word King as Konijn (Rabbit). At that moment all the people laughed loudly and
King Lodewijk asked a man standing beside him: "Why do they laugh?". This man explained it to him, he understood it and...... he laughed with them!

A year later, during a flood in Zeeland, a part of the Netherlands, he was one of the first who was presented to encourage the victims. This made a big impression on the population.
Although, the marriage of Hortense and Lodewijk wasn't happy, they were a favourite couple and did many good things for the inhabitants of Holland.

Hortense was an inspired artist. She was a great vocalist, pianist and composer.
She wrote the song: "Les jeunes reves de l'amour" and the song:
"Partant pour la Syrie", that has been the French national anthem, from 1852 till 1870.
Both songs do I want to share with you.

Keep alive
Aleke.

P.S. English is not my native language, but I use the principle: Not HOW I write, but WHAT I write is important.