BLITZER: A royal shake-up is looming in the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix has announced she will abdicate on April 30th, 33 years to the day since she ascended to the Dutch throne. The country will have its first king in more than a century. CNN royal correspondent Max Foster has more.</s>MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in a televised address, Beatrix said her country need a new generation as the monarchy there marks its 200th anniversary. She's been on the throne since 1980. Prince Willem Alexander, the eldest of her three sons, will become king now on the 30th of April. It's a surprise, but it's not shocking in the Netherlands because her mother and grandmother both be abdicated. So there's a tradition of stepping down, rather than reigning until death.</s>QUEEN BEATRIX, NETHERLANDS (through translator): I'm not stepping down, because the role would become too difficult, but because I feel the responsibility of this land should lie in the hands of a new generation.</s>FOSTER: Like other European monarchs, the Dutch queen has a ceremonial role and stays out of politics. The prime minister described her as an icon of the Netherlands. She's always been there, he said. And this is a queen who has suffered during her reign, her second son still in a coma following a skiing accident last year. Beatrix is one of three long-serving European queens. Like her British and Danish counterparts, she enjoys very high approval ratings. It's something their sons will endeavour to live up to -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Max Foster, thank you.
Queen Beatrix Abdicating Dutch Throne