30 April is the official birthday of Queen Beatrix, and as such cause for a nationwide party, but in actual fact the holiday is used by the Dutch for a gigantic free-for-all. Flea markets spring up everywhere in the country, and the capital Amsterdam is doing justice to its status by turning into the Netherlands' biggest marketplace.

Children are selling lemonade, sausage vendors offer their warm wares, entire wardrobes are for sale at bargain prices - you name it, it's being bought and sold on Queen's Day. Of course the dominating colour is orange, symbolic of the ruling House of Orange and hence the Netherlands' national colour. Watch a slideshow of the Children's Market in Amsterdam on 30 April 2010 below.

Queen Beatrix's real birthday is on 31 January. She turned 72 this year. The monarch is celebrating her official birthday elsewhere in the country; this year it's the turn of the province of Zeeland to receive the royals.

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