Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has
announced she is abdicating in favour of
her son, Prince Willem-Alexander.
In a pre-recorded address broadcast on TV,
she said she would formally stand down on
30 April.
The queen, who is approaching her 75th
birthday, said she had been thinking about
this moment for several years and that now
was "the moment to lay down my crown".
Queen Beatrix has been head of state since
1980, when her mother abdicated.
In the short televised statement, the queen
said it was time for the throne to be held by
"a new generation", adding that her son
was ready to be king.
Prince Willem-Alexander, 45, is married to
Maxima Zorreguieta, a former investment
banker from Argentina, and has three young
children.
He is a trained pilot and an expert in water
management.
He will become the Netherlands' first king
since Willem III, who died in 1890.
Speaking on television immediately after the
abdication announcement, Dutch Prime
Minister Mark Rutte paid tribute to the
queen.
"Since her coronation... she has applied
herself heart and soul for Dutch society," he
said.
Abdication 'tradition'
Queen Beatrix is the sixth monarch from the
House of Orange-Nassau, which has ruled
the Netherlands since the early 19th Century.
Correspondents say she is extremely popular
with most Dutch people, but her abdication
was widely expected and will not provoke a
constitutional crisis.
Under Dutch law, the monarch has few
powers and the role is considered
ceremonial.
In recent decades it has become the
tradition for the monarch to abdicate.
Queen Beatrix's mother Juliana resigned the
throne in 1980 on her 70th birthday, and
her grandmother Wilhelmina abdicated in
1948 at the age of 68.
Queen Beatrix will be 75 on Thursday.
She has remained active in recent years, but
her reign has also seen traumatic events.
In 2009 a would-be attacker killed eight
people when he drove his car into crowds
watching the queen and other members of
the royal family in a national holiday parade.
In March last year her second son, Prince
Friso, was struck by an avalanche in Austria
and remains in a coma.

m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21237254

I just saw the news...I hope Queen Eliza will follow her lead. Abi that one wan die for throne?

Afam4eva: I just saw the news...I hope Queen Eliza will follow her lead. Abi that one wan die for throne?

And charlie is not getting younger.

Akanniade:
And charlie is not getting younger.

Charly has been waiting fro decades for this woman to either step down or fall down and die but she keeps pushing on. This British people and stinginess sha.