To me, it all looks pretty complex... there are several different charts for the Netherlands, which after all has a long history. But the abdication of Queen Beatrix on January 28th has some interesting resonances with the chart for the coronation of King William I in 1815, which Nicholas Campion says is the chart many Dutch astrologers use.

Most prominent for me is that the sun on January 28th was at 8 degrees of Aquarius, conjunct the coronation chart's Saturn. Now, what really grabs me about that is the Queen - royalty, a Leonine quality - abdicated at a time when the sun is in the progressive, democratic sign of Aquarius, which is in many ways the antithesis of Leo (it certainly is opposite in the zodiac!).

It makes sense that the Netherland's Saturn is in the sign of the Water Bearer. The country is known for being tolerant (generally) and politically progressive. It's appropriate that the Queen would publicly call it quits when the sun was in a sign associated with democracy, and as it passed over the government-oriented Saturn. It's a way of royalty bowing to the people - and royalty is not famous for bowing to anyone.

The abdication also comes just days after the full moon at 7+ degrees of Leo, essentially conjunct the country's Saturn. And Saturn now stands in Scorpio, square to that full moon (the square to the sun is exact on January 30th). In other words, the full moon "lit up" the country's Saturn, and placed pressure on royalty. And at the time of her speech, the moon was on the IC (opposite the midheaven) of the country's chart.

All in all, it looks like a tough week for Dutch royalty. But the Queen made the best of the pressures - it must be bittersweet to abdicate the throne, but Beatrix made the most of it. We'll have to see what the new King's coronation chart looks like.

But hey, it's the Netherlands, and I bet it's all good.