The relation of the Dutch people towards their monarchy has always been ambiguous. The celebration of the monarch’s birthday has become a festive and massive expression of Orangeism, turning the event into a national feast day for all. The celebration is, however, characterized by a certain suspension of rules (“freemarkets”) and brings up forms of social inversion und charivaresque behaviour towards the House of Orange. This contribution examines to what extent this seemingly uncritical expression of contemporary Orangeism can be interpreted as a temporary symbolic “mobocracy” that helps to reconcile the nation’s republican traditions and strive for modernity with an anachronistic monarchical system.1