Dutch Queen Beatrix has announced that she was abdicating the throne in favour of her son, Prince Willem-Alexander, in a television broadcast.

Queen Beatrix, who turns 75 on Thursday, made the announcement earlier this evening and said Prince Willem-Alexander will ascend to the throne on 30 April.

She said in her speech to the Dutch nation: ‘It was not because the office was too heavy for me, but because the responsibility for this country should lie in the hands of a new generation.'