Five people were killed and 12 others wounded when a speeding car careered through spectators near an open bus carrying Dutch Queen Beatrix and her family during a holiday parade.
Four of the injured spectators remain in serious condition, but no royals were hurt in the deliberate attack by a 38-year old Dutchman on the Queen's Day holiday, police said in the town of Apeldoorn.
Television footage showed a small black Suzuki with a crumpled front driving at high speed after ploughing through a crowd of spectators. The car appeared to be heading at high speed toward the royal bus and passed within a few metres of it before plowing into a stone monument.
People were seen flying through the air after the car swerved across police railings, where the crowd was lined up five or six deep to see the immensely popular royal family pass on its way to the Het Loo palace on the Queen's Day national holiday.
It was not clear how the car managed enter the parade area, which police had sealed off hours before.
Public prosecutor Ludo Goossens told a news conference the attacker, who was taken into custody and was in a critical condition in hospital, told police his actions were directed against the royal family.
He is being charged with an attempted assault on the royal family. Police said they believed the man, whose name was not disclosed, acted alone. No explosives were found in the vehicle.
Dutch television footage showed Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima, standing at their seats in the bus's high open platform and watching with surprise. Maxima held her hand over her mouth in apparent horror. The bus was not hit and no one in the queen's entourage was injured.
"What started as a beautiful day has ended in terrible drama, wich has shocked us deeply," Queen Beatrix said in a statement broadcast on national television.
Dutch flags, which were flying from the facades of city homes, were later at half-mast to commemorate the victims. "The Netherlands is shaken by this terrible event," Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.
Journalist Peter von de Vorst told RTL television that the bizarre incident was like watching a horrible movie.
"It was a really nice day. Then you hear a bang. Everyone looks up and you see people indeed flying through the air. This must be a joke or a strange prank. Then suddenly panic, and you realise that something really terrible has happened," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the main Dutch cities last night and today to celebrate the national holiday, originally intended to celebrate the birthday of Beatrix's mother Queen Juliana. The royal family normally spends the day in a small Dutch community.
The government cancelled the remaining official activities on the annual national holiday.