Dutch king won’t use carriage criticized for colonial image

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch king has ruled out using, for now at least, the royal family’s “Golden Carriage.” One side of the ornate vehicle is decorated with a painting that has drawn fire from critics who say it glorifies the Netherlands’ colonial past, including its role in the global slave trade. The announcement Thursday was an acknowledgement of the heated debate about the carriage as the Netherlands reckons with the grim sides of its history as a 17th-century colonial superpower, including Dutch merchants making vast fortunes from the slave trade. King Willem-Alexander says the carriage “will only be able to drive again when the Netherlands is ready and that is not the case now.”