Prince’s Festival is a celebration of the Dutch monarchy, centred around Prince’s Day. The days leading up to Prince’s Day are full of markets, concerts, a photo exhibition, cabaret, hat fashion show and hat design competition and many more exciting activities in The Hague.
Prince’s Festival is primarily a celebration of the royals, but also a celebration of democracy. Here are some of the Prince's Festival programme highlights:
The Prince’s Book Prize is awarded annually in September. Each year, a few days before the prize presentation, the public can attend Evening of the Political Book, a free event at 7pm, which brings together the nominees for the Best Political Book of the Year. This year it takes place at Dudok.
Held in Dutch, the Prince’s Pub Quiz takes place at the Nieuwspoort on September 12 at 7.30pm.
For the general public, this may well be the highlight of Prince's festival, because this vibrant and atmospheric market takes place all day at Hofvijver, one of the most iconic areas of The Hague near the historic parliament buildings. Entrance is free and there are plenty of stalls and music and dance acts to add to the festival vibe!
This is also the main day for the famous Hat Festival! The dashing hats on the catwalk at the Prince’s Hat Walk are displayed and a winner is determined. This spectacle shows the high standards of hat design and exclusive style in the range of hats among Dutch politicians and their partners.
If you can't make it to the big procession on Prince's Day, come down on Sunday morning and see the full military cavalcade practise the route and formations. The only thing missing is the King!
The Royals are at the centre of Prince's Day, as the King addresses the Dutch parliament about the government budget for the coming year. Prince's Day essentially marks the new parliamentary season and is also known as the budget day.
With so many events happening over so many days, there's a lot to do and see in The Hague for free! Some events require tickets and others require showing up early to get a good spot in the crowd, so plan your visit to the centre of The Hague for this unique event! Keep an eye on the Prince's Festival website.
Thumb photo credit: The Hague & Partners/Jurjen Drenth