She signed her abdication leaving the Dutch throne to her son who became the first male monarch in the European country in 123 years.
She said she was overwhelmed with the warm wishes from the public when she announced her retirement and also thanked Dutch people for their love and support.
There was a huge crowd on the Dam square on Tuesday (local time) to celebrate this moment. There were more than 10,000 police officers from all over Holland who were on duty in the Dutch during this ceremony.
After the document was legally signed by the 10 members of the royal house, bells rang out to inform people about it and thereafter, they started giving their applauses and thankful greeting to the queen. There was emotional environment all around.
The outgoing queen said to the crowd of around 10 thousand people that her heart is filled with joy and she is feeling very happy to introduce them to the new king, Willem-Alexander.
She also said that she is creating a new way for the future generation.
In the night, the new king also appeared in the balcony of his palace and expressed his gratitude to his mother and said “thank you” to the crowd in a loud voice.
To his response, crowd also shouted with the slogan “Long Live the King.” He is the youngest king in Europe. Princess Catharina-Amalia, daughter of the new king, also attended the ceremony, dressed in a beautiful yellow and white dress. She is quite young as she just turned nine this year.
This was a very big ceremony which was attended by many kings, princesses, princes around the globe and the number was estimated to be around 2000, among which most of the guests were from Europe like Prince of Wales, Prince Felipe of Spain and Japan‘s Princess Masako.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com