Queen Juliana of the Netherlands left the throne in 1980. She wanted to mark the occasion by having a serving of cake given to all prisoners in the country!
A biography of Dries van Agt was published last month. He was prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982. The story about the queen was in the book.
Mass pardons during major events were once common among European royalty. Queen Juliana wanted to do that for all petty criminals when she stepped down and let her daughter, Queen Beatrix, take the throne.
PHOTO: AFP
But the Cabinet told Juliana such a pardon was impossible in the modern era. She was very upset, so she asked if all prisoners could at least be served cake.
“An outstanding idea, your majesty,” said then-vice prime minister Hans Wiegel. “And we’ll write a message in whipped cream on each cake: ‘and many more years.’”
In the end the idea was scrapped. Queen Juliana died in 2004.
(STAFF WRITER, WITH AP)
荷蘭女王茱莉安娜一九八Ｏ年退位時，希望送每個囚犯一塊蛋糕來紀念這一刻。
這個小故事出自上個月出版的范奈格自傳；范奈格曾在一九七七年至一九八二年間擔任荷蘭總理。
在重要慶典頒布大赦一度是歐洲皇室常見的現象。茱莉安娜女王將王位傳給女兒碧翠絲女王時，希望能特赦罪刑較輕的囚犯。
但內閣告訴茱莉安娜，這樣的特赦並不適用於現代，女王知道後很沮喪，於是詢問至少讓每個罪犯都有一塊蛋糕吃的可能性。
當時的副首相漢斯．維格說：「女王陛下，這真是個絕妙的點子！我們還要在每塊蛋糕上用鮮奶油寫上：『再多享受幾年』。」
這個點子最終沒能付諸實行。茱莉安娜女王在二ＯＯ四年逝世。
（美聯社�翻譯：袁星塵）
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