The City of Philadelphia welcomed royalty on Monday morning as the king and queen of the Netherlands joined Pennsylvania’s own royal couple at Independence Hall.

Monday morning, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his wife, Lori, joined King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as the royal couple visits the United States.

“The Netherlands and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania share incredibly deep historical and cultural ties,” said Shapiro. “Ties that reach all the way back to our founding in the 1600s, when the Dutch became some of the very first European traders to visit the Delaware Valley.”

On Monday morning, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and his wife Lori, joined King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at an event at Philly’s Independence Hall. The pair discussed the history of the connection between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands and economic ties between the two. 

In fact, he noted, the Schuylkill River is named, in Dutch, “The Hidden River.”

“Those ties have continued for centuries,” said the governor.

In making remarks to the press, King Willem-Alexander said he and the queen were excited to be in the country on the year of its 250th birthday.

“This is a historic site for the Dutch as well as the Americans,” said the king, in front of Independence Hall. “By declaring independence in 1776, the U.S. lit a beacon of hope for all freedom-loving peoples. Of course, the course of world history changed and the Netherlands was one of the first countries to recognize this new era and embrace it.”

In a statement on the day’s event, the governor’s office said that the officials discussed economic ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands as well as America’s 250th anniversary of independence and the Netherlands’ role in the American Revolution.

According to the governor’s office, in 2025 the trade between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands amounted to about $3.7 billion dollars.

That’s up 17-percent from the previous year, the governor’s office noted.

Also, according to Shapiro’s office, Pennsylvania is the sixth largest international job creator for the Netherlands.

Following the morning event, officials said, the Shapiros and the king and queen of the Netherlands were expected to visit the Cira Centre in West Philly for a discussion on the economic ties between the Netherlands and Pennsylvania.

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.