A man in the Netherlands killed five bystanders at the annual Queen's Day parade as he tried to ram his car into the Dutch royal family, said Nick Squire in Britain’s The Telegraph. The driver, Karst Tates, narrowly missed the queen’s open bus, crashed into a statue, and later died from his injuries. Queen Beatrix and her family, uninjured, watched in “horror” as Tates plowed toward them through the sea of “orange wigs and bizarre hats.”
He may not have harmed the royal family, said the Dutch daily Volkskrant (via DutchNews.nl), but he killed a “national illusion”—that Queen Beatrix and other public officials in the Netherlands are “free and approachable.” And by attacking on our “only real national day of celebration,” Tates robbed us all of a key “only-in-the-Netherlands” curiosity.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
India elections start amid violence, hate speech accusationsTalking Points Narendra Modi seeks a third term while critics worry about the future of the country's democracy
-
'Biden is smart to keep the border-security pressure on'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Bird flu worries mount as virus found in milk, cowsSpeed Read The FDA found traces of the virus in pasteurized grocery store milk
