Editing Flag of the Netherlands (section)

==Display and use==
[[File:2008-04-30 oude st mauritius silvolde met vlag.JPG|thumb|250px|Added orange pennant on [[Koningsdag]]]]

The flag is customarily flown at government buildings and military bases in the Netherlands and abroad all year round. Private use is more uncommon. Only on national holidays is there widespread private use. At the birthdays or weddings of specific members of the Royal House, an orange pennant is added to the flag. There are special non-holiday festivities or remembrance occasions when the flag is flown, such as at the homes of students who have just graduated. The flag is then often accompanied by the graduate's school bag hung from the tip of the flagpole. The flag can also be displayed at times of sadness at [[half-mast]] (or a black pennant is added to the flag when hanging at half-mast is not possible) as a sign of respect or national mourning.

There are a number of [[Flag-flying day|flag-flying days]] in the Netherlands. The holidays on which flags are put out by the government, according to the flag instruction, are:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Date
!Occasion
!Half-mast?
!Orange pennant?
|-
|31 January (1 February)
|Birthday of [[Beatrix of the Netherlands|Princess Beatrix]]
|No
|Yes
|-
|27 April (26 April)
|[[Koningsdag|Koningsdag (King's Day)]], birthday of [[Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands|King Willem-Alexander]]
|No
|Yes
|-
|4 May
|[[Remembrance of the Dead]] (flags are put out at 18:00 until sunset, which is at ca. 21:10)
|Yes
|No
|-
|5 May
|[[Liberation Day (Netherlands)|Liberation Day]]
|No
|No
|-
|17 May (18 May)
|Birthday of Queen Máxima
|No
|Yes
|-
|Last Saturday of June
|[[Veterans' Day (Netherlands)|Veterans' Day]]
|No
|No
|-
|15 August (16 August)
|Formal end of [[World War II]] ([[surrender of Japan]])
|No
|No
|-
|Third Tuesday of September
|[[Prinsjesdag]] (only in The Hague)
|No
|No
|-
|7 December (8 December)
|Birthday of [[Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange|the Princess of Orange]]
|No
|Yes
|-
|15 December (16 December)
|[[Koninkrijksdag]] (Kingdom Day)
|No
|No
|}

The dates mentioned in parentheses are the dates when the flags are put out, should the original scheduled flag day fall on a Sunday, when possible. Exceptions are Remembrance of the Dead and Liberation Day, should one of them fall on a Sunday, the flags are put out anyway.

The [[prime minister of the Netherlands]] is responsible for announcing updates to the flag instruction (last given in 2013 when Queen's Day on 30 April became King's Day on 27 April), announcing one-off flag days (last given on 19 March 2019 to remember the [[Utrecht tram shooting]]), and announcing one-off modifications to the current flag days (last given in 2020 when the flags were put out at half-mast on 4 May the whole day instead of from 18:00, due to the 75-year anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands|COVID-19 pandemic]]).

When a member of the Dutch Royal House is born, the flag instruction will be determined some weeks before the child is expected. In the most recent occasions – in 2003, 2005 and 2007, when Princess Máxima was expecting [[Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange|Princess Amalia]], [[Princess Alexia of the Netherlands|Princess Alexia]] and [[Princess Ariane of the Netherlands|Princess Ariane]] respectively, it was announced that immediately upon announcement of the birth, the flags would be put out with the orange pennant. However, because Amalia and Ariane were born while darkness already fell (and Amalia was born on a Sunday), the flag day was postponed until the next day.