Court and Society
Society life in Holland is, as everywhere else, the gentle art of escaping
self-confession of boredom. But society in Holland is far different from
society abroad, because The Hague, the official residence of Queen
Wilhelmina, is not only not the capital of her kingdom, but is only the
third town of the country so far as importance and population go. The
Hague is the royal residence and the seat of the Netherlands Government;
but although, as a rule, Cabinet Ministers live there, most of the members
of the First Chamber of the States-General live elsewhere, and a great
many of their colleagues of the Second Chamber follow their example,
preferring a couple of hours' railway travelling per day or per week
during the time the States sit, to a permanent stay. Hence, so far as
political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent.
Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht,
and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says,
'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose
and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the
Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to
social intercourse at The Hague.
High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such
high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that
nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets
as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to
outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious
inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable,
for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of
the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of
their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well
in many cases meant extermination.
On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any
republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous,
self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician
republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of
Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries
of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides,
may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty
with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to
other nations.
When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a
kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from
these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution
says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign
nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears
in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this
nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van
Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and
four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility,
especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils
which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility'
acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are
regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are
'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl)
and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen.
If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share
the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are
indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long
as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the
girls as 'Freule.'
For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In
summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners,
bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may
become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince
Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het
Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly,
wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court,
and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at
The Hague, inhabited by the Queen.
Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life
in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully
transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the
Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel
undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot,
and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic
beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her
coronation. How far she and her husband will influence and lead Society
life in Holland remains to be seen. Both are young, and their union is
younger still. During the late King's life and Queen Emma's subsequent
widowhood, society was for scores of years left to itself, and of course
it has settled down into certain grooves. But, on the other hand, the
tastes and inclinations of well-bred, well to do people, with an
inexhaustible amount of spare time on their hands, and an unlimited
appetite for amusement in their minds, are everywhere the same. Of course,
Ministerial receptions, political dinners, and the intercourse of
Ambassadors and foreign Ministers at The Hague form a special feature of
social life there, but here, again, The Hague is just like European
capitals generally.
Once every year the Dutch Court and the Dutch capital proper meet.
Legally, by the way, it is inaccurate to indicate even Amsterdam as the
capital of Holland; no statute mentions a capital of the kingdom, but by
common consent Amsterdam, being the largest and most important town, is
always accorded that title, so highly valued by its inhabitants. The Royal
Palace in Amsterdam is royal enough, and it is also sufficiently palatial,
but it is no Royal Palace in the strict sense of the word. It was built
(1649-1655), and for centuries was used, as a Town Hall. As such it is a
masterpiece, and one's imagination can easily go back to the times when
the powerful and masterful Burgomasters and Sheriffs met in the almost
oppressing splendour of its vast hall. It is an ideal meeting-place for
stern merchants, enterprising shipowners, and energetic traders. Every
hall, every room, every ornament speaks of trade, trade, and trade again.
And there lies some grim irony in the fact that these merchants, whose
meeting-place is surmounted by the proud symbol of Atlas carrying the
globe, offered that mansion as a residence to their kings, when Holland
and Amsterdam could no longer boast of supporting the world by their
wealth and their energy.
Here they meet once a year--the stern, ancient city, represented by its
sturdy citizens, its fair women, its proud inhabitants, and Holland's
youthful Queen, blossoming forth as a symbol of new, fresh life, fresh
hope and promise. Here they meet, the sons and daughters of the men and
women who never gave way, who saw their immense riches accrue, as their
liberties grew, by sheer force of will, by inflexible determination, by
dauntless power of purpose; here they meet, the last descendant of the
famous House of Orange-Nassau, the queenly bride, whose forefathers were
well entitled to let their proud war-cry resound on the battlefields of
Europe: 'À moi, généreux sang de Nassau!'
When the Queen is in Amsterdam the citizens go out to the 'Dam,' the
Square where the palace stands, offering their homage by cheers and
waving of hats, and by singing the war-psalm of the old warriors of
William the Silent, 'Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.' Then the leaders of
Amsterdam, its merchants, scientists, and artists, leave their beautiful
homes on Heeren-and Keizers-gracht, with their wives and daughters
wrapped in costly garments, glittering in profusion of diamonds and
rubies and pearls, and drive to the huge palace to offer homage to their
Queen, just as proud as she, just as patriotic as she, just as faithful
and loyal as she.
Three hundred years have done their incessant work in welding the House of
Orange and Amsterdam together; ruptures and quarrels have occurred; yet,
after every struggle, both found out that they could not well do without
each other; and now when the Queen and the city meet, mutual respect,
mutual confidence, and reciprocal affection attest the firm bond which
unites them.
To the Amsterdam patriciate the yearly visit of the Queen is a social
function full of interest. To the Queen it is more than that; she visits
not only the patricians, she also visits the people, the poor and the
toilers. Of course Amsterdam has its Socialists, and a good many of them,
too, and Socialists are not only fiery but also vociferous republicans as
a rule, who believe that royalty and a queen are a blot upon modern
civilization. But their sentiments, however well uttered, are not popular.
For when 'Our Child,' as the Queen is still frequently called, drives
through the workmen's quarter of Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan' (a corruption of
the French _jardin_), the bunting is plentiful, the cheering and singing
are more so, and the general enthusiasm surpasses both. The 'man in the
street,' that remarkable political genius of the present age, has scarcely
ever wavered in his simple affection for his Prince and Princess of
Orange; and though this affection is personal, not political--for nothing
is political to 'the man in the street'--there it is none the less, and it
does not give way to either reasoning or prejudice.
Such is the external side of Court life. Internally it strikes one as
simple and unaffected. Queen Emma was a lady possessing high
qualifications as a mother and as a ruler. She grasped with undeniable
shrewdness the popular taste and fancy, she had no difficulty in realizing
that her rather easy-going, sometimes blustering, Consort could have
retained a great deal more of his popularity by very simple means, if he
had cared to do so. She did care, so she allowed her little girl to be a
little girl, and she let the people notice it. She went about with her,
all through the country, and the people beheld not two proud princesses,
strutting about in high and mighty manner, but a gracions, kind lady and
an unaffected child. This child showed a genuine interest in sport in
Friesland, in excavations in Maastricht, in ships and quays and docks in
Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and in hospitals and orphanages everywhere.
Anecdotes came into existence--the little Queen had been seen at
'hop-scotch,' had refused to go to bed early, had annoyed her governess,
had been skating, had been snow balling her royal mother, etc. And later,
when she was driving or riding, when she attended State functions or paid
official visits, there was always a simplicity in her turn out, a quiet
dignity in her demeanour, which proved that she felt no particular desire
to advertise herself as one of the wealthiest sovereigns of the world by
the mere splendour of her surroundings.
This supreme tact of Queen Emma resulted in her daughter being educated
as a queen, as the Dutch like their sovereigns. Court life in The Hague
or at the Loo certainly lacks neither dignity nor brilliancy, but it
lacks showiness, and many an English nobleman lives in a grander style
than Holland's Queen. Now, education may bend, but it does not alter a
charactcr, and whatever qualifies may have adorned or otherwise
influenced the late King, he was no more a stickler for etiquette or a
lover of display than Queen Emma has proved to be. So there is a
probability that their daughter will also be satisfied with very limited
show, and if Prince Henry be wise, he will not interfere with the Queen's
inclinations. He is said to be 'horsy,' but the same may be said of her,
though as yet her 'horsiness' has not become an absorbing passion, nor
is it likely to be.
It is said also that she abhors music; but as long as she, as Queen, does
not transfer her abhorrence from the art to the artists, no harm will be
done. The facts are that, simple as her tastes are, she does not impose
her simplicity upon others. When she presides at State dinners or at Court
dinners, she is entirely the _grande dame_, but when she is allowed to be
wholly herself, in a small, quiet circle, she is praised by every one, low
or high, who has been favoured with an invitation to the royal table, for
her natural and unaffected manners, her urbanity, and her gentle courtesy.