page_title: 2009 attack on the Dutch royal family
section_title: Cancelled events
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 attack on the Dutch royal family / Aftermath / Cancelled events
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of public gathering watching memorial service 8 May 2009 on market square of Apeldoorn after the tragic Queen's Day incident on 30 April 2009. Nederlands: Foto van publieke bijeenkomst bekijken herdenkingsdienst 8 mei 2009 op marktplein van Apeldoorn na het tragische incident op Koninginnedag 2009.
context_page_description: The 2009 attack on the Dutch royal family occurred on 30 April at Apeldoorn, Netherlands, when a man drove his car at high speed into a parade which included Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and other members of the royal family. The attack took place on the Dutch national holiday of Koninginnedag.
  The driver deliberately drove through people lining the street watching the parade, resulting in eight deaths, including the attacker, and ten injuries. The car missed the royal family and crashed into a monument at the side of the road. No members of the royal family were harmed. It was the first attack on the Dutch royal family in modern times.
  The driver, identified as 38-year-old Dutch national Karst Roeland Tates, was treated by members of the fire brigade and police, taken into custody and transported to a hospital. He died the next day, becoming the seventh person killed by injuries suffered during the attack. A 46-year-old woman died from her injuries days later, on 8 May, bringing the total number of deaths to eight.
context_section_description: Following the attack, at 12:15 pm local time, it was announced that all planned celebrations in Apeldoorn were cancelled. Later that day, many other events across the Netherlands were also cancelled, shortened or toned down significantly – including all activities in Rotterdam and many events in Amsterdam.
  As the news of the attack spread, many people spontaneously lowered the national flag to half-mast (the normal flag instruction on Queen's Day is to fly the flag, with orange banner, normally, and many people follow this instruction). Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced the order to lower all flags on government buildings to half-mast.
  Initially, it was feared that the "act of madness by a lone attacker" endangered the long-held yearly tradition of the royal family's mingling with the Dutch people on Queen's Day.
caption: Public gathering on the central market square during memorial service of 8 May 2009
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