The Queen's Speech

As Head of State, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix delivers the so-called Queen's Speech on Prince's Day on behalf of the Dutch government. In her Speech, the Queen sets out the state of play in the Netherlands and the government's plans for the coming year. "Members of the States General". Those are the opening words of the Queen's Speech. Queen Beatrix delivers the speech before the joint meeting of the States General, but does not write it herself; the ministers do. Every minister makes a contribution in his or her field of policy and these are then compiled to form the, which are integrated into one speech. In the past, the Prime Minister himself did this, but nowadays communication experts advise him to render the Queen's Speech more comprehensible to the public in the Netherlands.