The royal family has concluded its visit to Dokkum in Friesland, where the king and queen ice skated in the city to mark his 59th birthday. It’s the first King’s Day visit to the northern province in Willem-Alexander’s 13-year reign.

The location was chosen partly to commemorate his participation in the 1986 Elfstedentocht skating marathon under the alias W.A. van Buren.

The family was handed a stamp card modelled on the one Elfstedentocht skaters carry to prove they have passed through all 11 Frisian cities. At the first stamp post, gymnast Epke Zonderland and Cambuur football coach Henk de Jong did the honours.

They also tried the Frisian sports of kaatsen (Frisian handball) and fierljeppen (a type of pole vault over a canal). The latter was attempted by princes Constantijn and Maurits rather than the king and queen.

Frisian speech, protests

In his closing speech, Willem-Alexander said he would happily skate the Dokkumer Ee again – the canal that runs out of the city – rather than turn around as he had to in 1986 as a part of the marathon.

He ended his speech in Frisian, saying: “See you again in king’s city Dokkum, see you again in Friesland, Friesland on top”.

Meanwhile, anti-monarchy group Republiek had planned to mark the family’s route through the city with a 10-metre blue inflatable dinosaur named Wim, but a local court blocked it on safety grounds. Republiek still staged a protest in Dokkum, repeating its line that like Wim, monarchy is “out of date, gets in the way and is full of hot air”.