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Glass Coach and Budget Speech as Dutch Royals Open Parliament

Frances KelsallPublished 4d ago2 min readBased on 9 sources
Glass Coach and Budget Speech as Dutch Royals Open Parliament
Photo by Martin Kraft / CC BY-SA 3.0

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands opened the Dutch parliamentary year on Tuesday, 15 September 2026 with a Speech from the Throne setting out the government's budget plans for the year ahead.

The occasion was Prinsjesdag, or Prince's Day. The Netherlands also calls it Budget Day. It is held on the third Tuesday in September to mark the opening of the parliamentary year Royal Central. The Dutch Royal House in English calls it the State Opening of Parliament.

The guest list was a family affair. The Dutch Royal House agenda for 15 September 2026 named King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, and Princess Alexia. Queen Máxima attended alongside the King. Princess Catharina-Amalia, the heir to the Dutch throne, arrived at the parliament buildings by carriage.

The coaches are part of the show. The King travelled by Glazen Koets, the Glass Coach, before delivering the address. The royal family performs a rijtoer, a ceremonial ride through The Hague that brings the parade to the streets. The Glass Coach led the way.

Inside parliament, the formal machinery took over. The King delivered the Troonrede, the Speech from the Throne, during a Verenigde Vergadering der Staten-Generaal, a joint session bringing together the two houses of the Dutch parliament. That speech lays out the government's plans and the budget for the coming parliamentary year. It is the constitutional centre of the day, read by the monarch on behalf of the government.

Then came the paperwork. Straight after the Troonrede, the Dutch cabinet presents the Miljoenennota, the budget memorandum that sets out the public finances for the year ahead NOS. That sequence, speech then budget, is repeated every year. On 16 September 2025, the government's plans for the coming year were announced in the Speech from the Throne in the same way.

For viewers, this is the draw. Gilded coaches and formal dress on one side. Tax and spending plans on the other. It is ceremony with a balance sheet attached.

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