Dekker can still remember that after she was sworn in, she came out and was shown her place. “You don’t just stand in that place. That is neatly indicated with a sticker on the ground and you will be led there.” Especially the photographers who are on ladders for the best photo are still clearly in her mind.
The Minister of Defense in the Balkenende IV cabinet, Eimert van Middelkoop, can still clearly remember the “hedge of journalists”. “You know: they immortalize the moment. I was aware that I was part of a very old ceremonial.”
Men change clothes
For the men in a new cabinet, the day of the swearing in also has a changing moment. When they appear before the head of state to take the oath or vow, they wear a morning coat as the rules dictate. But on the platform, tenue de ville, or a dark suit, is the dress code.
Arendo Joustra, editor-in-chief of EW Magazine, told today in WNL on Sunday that they owe that to Queen Juliana, who reportedly did not want to be photographed with a “bunch of undertakers”. Dressing up is done together in a room of the palace. “That creates a bond, standing in your underpants with complete strangers,” said Joustra.
Photo in the hall
One of those photographers from the ‘journalists’ hedge’ is Werry Crone. Since the presentation of the Van Agt II cabinet in 1981, the 66-year-old former staff photographer of Trouw has been to every landing scene. They were almost always on the steps of Huis ten Bosch, but the first time in 1981 the weather was too bad and the photo had to be taken in the hall of the palace.
“You can put people in rows on the platform. Inside it became more difficult. In Huis ten Bosch you have two stairs in the hall, people could stand on them, but it is not the image you want. But yes: that one. Of course there had to be a photo.”
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