Today is the anniversary of the deaths of two Dutch queens. Queen Juliana died five years ago on 20th March. Her grandmother queen Emma died 70 years before. (see the photo on left taken at Soestdijk, soooo long ago!).
Today is also the start of a two-day event, Make a Difference Day, a program promoting volunteerism in The Netherlands. Members of the Dutch royal family will take part in MADD at various social service agencies throughout the land.
Last year Queen Beatrix made apple pies for volunteers at a nature center (photo at right). Tomorrow she will put her sculpting talents to work and will help the visually impaired create art at a center in Zeist.
I remember Juliana saying that if she had not been queen, she would have liked to have been a social worker. What a wonderful way for Beatrix to honour the exuberant spirit of her mother.
Volunteering comes in all shapes and sizes. In the US, there was a MADD last October. And Michelle Obama dished out mushroom risotto for the homeless at a soup kitchen earlier this month and promised she'd be back to help. The Dutch royals do the same and quietly return to volunteer, without fanfare, when the cameras are not around.
(Photos are copyrighted & courtesy of BV Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau ANP.)
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