Photo: Spaarnestad
What do the people of the colony do when the royal family of the colonizing country celebrating something? Yes, they celebrate too. Or ordered to do so.
The photo above shows the festive atmosphere in the Dutch East Indies in 1938, when people were celebrating the birth of Princess Beatrix, daughter of Princess Jualiana and granddaughter of Queen Wilhelmina.
Princess Juliana was the eldest child of Queen Wilhelmina, in other words she was the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. And Princess Beatrix, was Princess Juliana's eldest child, in other words she was a future heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. So it is not surprising that the birth of Princess Beatrix was celebrated by the whole kingdom, including of course the colonies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
I don't have any idea what kind of celebration the people in the photo above were doing, but it looks like it's a traditional dance from Sumatra.
Princess Beatrix was born on January 31, 1938. In 1940, due to war, she and the Dutch Royal family fled to London, England. However, England was also not safe from the German attack so she moved to Canada and attended school there until the defeat of Germany in 1945.
In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated and was succeeded by Queen Juliana. At that time, Princess Beatrix officially became the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1980, Queen Juliana abdicated and was succeeded by Queen Beatrix, who reigned until 2013.