WASHINGTON – US Senator Charles Schumer Thursday sent a formal invitation to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for her to come to the United States as part of New York’s commendation of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage up the river that bears his name.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who has been leading the charge on many of the Quadricentennial efforts, has also been communicating with Amsterdam.

Schumer formally requested the Queen’s presence at some of the festivities planned across New York City and state in September and October of next year, noting the significance that the event had in the development of New York and the country’s positive relationship with the Netherlands over the years.

In the wake of Hudson’s voyage on the Dutch East India Company ship the Halve Maen, New Netherlands was founded in New Amsterdam, which is now modern-day Manhattan.

Beyond that historic event, Schumer wrote, “Dutch-inspired values like freedom of the press, religious tolerance and public education seeped into the American bloodstream, and became inveterate elements of our nation.”