One hour before the State Opening of Parliament, something very unusual happens. The Prime Minister appears and demands an adjustment to the Queen's speech. The speech concerns aid to Africa. Even with all the pressure around the State Opening, Beatrix goes back in time, and remembers her banishment to Canada, the visit to the victims of the Flood disaster and the turbulence suffered by her parents at Palace Soestdijk during the Hofman case.
Acting
Crutzen's micro-expressions do what speeches cannot.
Costume
The crown weighs heavier than it looks, and the film knows it.
Director
Peter de Baan
Carine Crutzen
Koningin Beatrix
Jeroen Willems
Prins Claus
Gijs Naber
Prins Willem-Alexander
Hadewych Minis
Prinses Maxima
Marcel Hensema
Balkenende
Eelco Smits
Prins Friso
Hans Croiset
Prins Bernhard (aged 90)
Alice Reijs
Grootmeesteres
Eline ten Camp
Mabel
Stefan de Walle
Secretaris Generaal
Dave Mantel
Prins Constatijn
Ariane van Vliet
Prinses Juliana (aged 40)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real 2006 State Opening saw no such drama, making this speculative fiction hit harder—Dutch audiences knew the tension was invented but the grief was borrowed.
Jeroen Willems died in 2012; his fragile, fading Claus became unintentionally his screen memorial.
NL
