Farewell--with Pink Begonias

"First there was the burgemeesters' convention," groaned a fat mayor, "then the Queen's birthday; on Saturday the abdication and then the inauguration. I don't know when I'll ever be able to get out of my morning coat."

It was an amiable protest, for, like nearly every other Hollander, the mayor of Katwijk was in high holiday mood. For seven days last week, stolid shopkeepers and sturdy burghers from Friesland to Limburg, from Gelderland to the sea put by their staid reserve to celebrate a golden jubilee and say farewell to a Queen and a friend. In medieval Utrecht parading clowns made boisterous sport of laughing huisvrouwen. In southern 's Hertogenbosch ragamuffin children romped through the streets in false faces.

Full Bathtubs. Seldom had placid Amsterdam appeared so festive. Orange banners flew from every peaked rooftop and festooned the walls of theaters and office buildings. Orange ties and orange ribbons decked every citizen, and orange lights glittered along every road. When the sun broke through chill August clouds the Dutch said: "Het oranje zonnetje komt altijd door" (The little orange sun always comes through). As the city's population swelled from a normal 800,000 to twice that number, hotelkeepers flung mattresses in bathtubs and police considered putting deck chairs on hundreds of boats. By day and by night, barrel organs and miniature calliopes, from one end of the city to another, squeaked and whistled gay airs.

Queen's Day. When a chorus of 19,000 children and adults gathered in the Dam to serenade her, 68-year-old Queen Wilhelmina could be seen plainly on the palace balcony, waving her hands like a drum majorette. Later on, at a huge pageant in the Olympic Stadium, the Queen clapped and laughed like a child at the circus. That day was Aug. 31, a day that has been the national holiday of The Netherlands for as long as most Hollanders could remember. "Why can't we celebrate the new Queen's birthday on Aug. 31 as well?" complained a visitor from the West Indies. "After all, you can't change that day. It's the Queen's day." But four days later, after a strenuous round of parades, reviews and parties, the Queen whose birthday it celebrated put her name on a parchment and--after 50 years of rule--was queen no more.

From the moment (11:33 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 4) when Wilhelmina dotted the second i of her bold signature at the solemn abdication ceremony in Amsterdam's Royal Palace, The Netherlands' Queen was her auburn-haired, 39-year-old daughter Juliana. By her own choice, Wilhelmina had become merely a dowager Princess of The Netherlands.

"Long live the Queen," shouted Princess Wilhelmina from the palace balcony when the ceremony was over. As the crowd below echoed the cheer, she threw her arms around her daughter and bussed her firmly. Juliana wept. A few minutes later, the ex-Queen left the balcony and the realm to her successor. In the square below, the crowd burst into the traditional anthem Up Orange! Some remembered to alter the last line to "Long Live Juliana!" Others went right on singing "Long Live Wilhelmina," as they had for 50 years.

The capable new Queen of The Netherlands, who was born on April 30, was as unlikely to be long confused with her mother as she was to assume her mother's birthday. In fact, she began her reign with an act of independence. Wilhelmina's daughter would have none of the orange marigolds which bloom everywhere in floral tribute to the House of Orange. For her formal inauguration, Queen Juliana ordered Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk banked instead with pink begonias.

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