A Wave of Patriotism: How Un-British!

When I moved to the Netherlands I was struck by the flag flying that goes on here. Many households have a flag pole attached to their house and at least once a year on Queen's Day a Dutch flag flaps proudly from the pole. Remembrance Day and Liberation Day are also marked by residents with flags outside their home.

I was struck by it because I didn't grow up with a lot of flag waving in Britain. There was some British flag flying when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. There was a wave of patriotism in 1977 when the Queen celebrated her silver jubilee. But other than that I cannot remember any real notable occasions when British flags could be seen in the streets. Until this year.

Having just come back from nearly three weeks in England I was amazed to see the scale of British flag flying going on: across pub fronts, in shop windows, across village greens and in house windows. A combination of the Queen's jubilee and Britain hosting the Olympics seems to have caused an outpouring of British sentiment and patriotism.

Here are some of the photos I captured of the 'British being un-British'.

Flying the British Flag on your Motor
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Flying the British Flag at Home
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

FLying the British Flag at the Pub
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Flying the British Flag at Land's End
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

A Cornish Off Licence Joins the Flag Flying
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

A Wool Shop Shows its Patriotism too
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

British Beer?
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

And not to be outdone, the family Ipad is also showing some British patriotism....

Queen's Day 2011 in The Hague

Today, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. Last year I spent Queen's Day in my kraambed with my two day old baby. This year we hit The Hague with a one year old in tow.....

A Street Market in The Hague
Photo: L van Mulligen

Binnenhof with Spatters of Orange

The Passage in The Hague Centre Decorated for Queen's Day
Photo: L van Mulligen

The Wheels Decked Out in Honour of Queen's Day

A Spot of Orange Dipping in the
Binnenhof Fountain

Dutch Flag, complete with Orange Wimpel flying outside the Mauritshuis

The Fair on Queen's Day

Hope you all had a good one too.

All photos are copyright of The Writing Well and may not be reproduced without permission.

Flying the Dutch Flag - and the Orange" Wimpel"

A Dutch street on Queen's Day
Photo: (c) The Writing Well

It's nearly Queen's Day, which means the flags will soon be out in force in the Dutch streets hanging from house flag poles. We don't have a flag holder on our house, nor do we own a Dutch flag to hang even if we did... but I did stumble upon "general flag instructions in Zoetermeer" on the internet and was quite surprised by the rules around flag flying around here. You can't just get your flag out and start willy-nilly waving it about how and when you want, you know!

For a start there are moments for 'general flagging' (where you and I can wave away) and there are times for "restricted flagging" (only on state building etc). Here are the dates when General Joe Public may proudly fly the Dutch flag from their houses:

30 April - Queen's Day
4 May - Remembrance day (with time restrictions and flag must be flown at half mast)
5 May - Liberation Day
Last Saturday in June - Veteran's Day
15 August - official end of World War 2
3rd Tuesday in September (only in The Hague) - Opening of Parliament

So there you have it. General Joe Public may not hoist the flag for any royal birthdays - you'll only see flags out on state buildings and the like for these occasions.

But wait, there's more. On Queen's Day you may also raise your orange wimpel with the Dutch flag. For non-Dutch speakers - a wimpel is a bit of material shaped like a long neck tie. It's the only use you'll ever get our of your orange wimpel so make the most of it on Saturday.

And that's not it... if the said flag flying day should fall on a Sunday or a Christian holiday then the date for official flag raising may change.....

And there is actually more about the size and colours of the flag, how it should be raised and how it the flags should sit should there be two together. Really. And you thought the Dutch rolled out of bed on any given Queen's Day and just 'put their flag up". Now you know......

Enjoy Queen's Day!