The Dutch royal family were in Emmen today to celebrate the king’s birthday and eleventh anniversary on the throne.
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Queen Máxima wore a design described by the milliner as, “a custom headpiece made of silk and feather butterflies by Berry Rutjes during the royal family’s visit to the city of Emmen for King’s Day. The butterfly is a symbol of the city, because of the butterfly garden. Of course she knows how to wear it like no other.“
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The effervescence of this design suits both its wearer and the informal occasion while retaining an elegant sophistication that isn’t costumey. The overall look is balanced, the lace skirt on the dress a great counterpoint for a head full of swirling butterflies. Yes, a wide brimmed hat could have done the same, but the butterflies are fantastically fun.
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Milliner: Berry Rutjes. Dress by Natan.
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new.
Princess Amalia followed the butterfly brief, adapting a pair of her mother’s gold brooches by Argentinian jeweller Celedonio into hairclips.
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Princess Ariane tied her hair back with an ecru velvet ribbon.
Thoughts about today’s butterflies in Emmen?!
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Royal Hats 
I wish the butterflies weren’t green, but what a great headpiece and a wonderful nod to the city! I also love Amalia’s butterfly hairclips. Ariane and Alexia are so pretty.
King W-A is so proud of his bevy of beauties, isn’t he? What a great family!
I wish they weren’t the same color as her dress, but it’s SO Maxima! I adore her and her exuberance. King W-A is so proud of his bevy of beauties; you can just see it!
All of the ladies look lovely. And I love Amalia with the butterflies in her hair. Well done, Princess of Orange!
My problem with the butterflies is that they are green, which isn’t a color I think of when I think of butterflies. And from a distance it looks like leaves to me. Knowing that the city is known for butterflies helps make sense of this. I have to say I prefer Amalia’s butterfly clips, but Maxima pulls off the headband of flying butterflies with her exuberance!
That’s my one complaint about this as well: at first I thought these were just leaves due to the color, although I assume this color was chosen to go with the dress (which does feature leaves, making things more confusing upon first glance haha). The butterfly motif in honor of Emmen is a nice one, and overall this is a headpiece that wins with its frivolity and could only be pulled off by someone like Máxima. The whole family looked great and everyone seemed to really enjoy the day.
The colours of the city of Emmen are white and green, that’s why! Emmen isn’t a very well noted place to live in, in fact the town dangles somewhere at the bottom of the popularity charts, so the King and Queen made a special effort to attract positive attention for Emmen and its inhabitants.
That makes sense and adds a lovely, personal touch to the design.
Thanks for the extra insight and information, Wies! I do love green, of course, and knowing the symbolism behind this ensemble for Máxima helps endear it even more to me (even though I still believe monarch butterflies would’ve made things more obvious, and also been a small shoutout to the House of Oranje 😀 ). And glad to see they are trying to highlight many places in the Netherlands and not just the main cities.
This look is fabulous, incredibly elegant and bold. It’s perfect for Maxima!
It’s a fabulous look for Máxima, that headpiece is so much fun and she balances the look with a cardigan to make it informal. She looks fab, and as ever she’s just having so much fun. She can carry a bold look unlike anyone else.
Her lovely daughters also look great and so stylish. They looked like they were enjoying themselves so much.
Oh, I missed Amalia’s clip! Thank you so much for highlighting the daughters, too!
why not have some fun?
Exactly!