Royal coach hit by row over Dutch colonialism

Critics called on the Dutch royal family yesterday to ditch a historic painting that decorates Queen Beatrix’s iconic golden carriage, calling it an offensive reminder of the colonial past.

“Homage of the Colonies” on the side of the queen’s horse-drawn carriage depicts half-naked, native women and men in servile poses bearing gifts to an enthroned white woman.

Thousands of fans will line the streets of The Hague next week to watch the queen travel in the carriage, one of the most famous symbols of the Netherlands’ royal House of Orange, to address parliament in her annual speech.

But Jeffry Pondaag of the Dutch Debts of Honour Committee co-authored a letter published in national newspapers yesterday calling for the painting to be removed and placed in a museum to illustrate “a nasty chapter of Dutch history”. Dutch people “have a big mouth about other people’s violations of human rights, but when it comes to something the Netherlands has done wrong, they won’t answer the doorbell,” he said.

The Golden Carriage was given to Queen Wilhelmina by the people of Amsterdam in 1898. The painting by Nicolaas van der Waay was intended to recreate the style of the country’s 17th-century Golden Age, when Amsterdam was the hub of a naval empire.

“It’s celebrating getting rich by spilling the blood of others,” said Mr Pondaag. He noted the US has apologised for slavery and Australia for abuses of native peoples, but the Dutch government has only expressed “regret” for its role in the slave trade.

The Royal House dismissed the campaign. “We are not going to rewrite history by destroying the Golden Carriage,” said a spokeswoman. This week, a court in The Hague ordered the Netherlands to pay reparations for killing up to 430 Indonesians in the village of Rawagedeh by Dutch soldiers in 1947, two years before it won independence.