Alex Van Halen, drummer and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen, has been awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion, the country's highest civilian honour. The 73-year-old was made a Knight in the Order at a ceremony in Nijmegen, the city where he grew up before his family emigrated to the United States, in recognition of his contribution to music.

The decoration, "Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw", honours merit in fields such as the arts, science, sport and literature, and was conferred by Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls at Radboud University's Berchmanianum building. Alex and his late brother Eddie were born in Amsterdam and raised in Nijmegen before the family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. The brothers went on to form Van Halen, one of the biggest US rock bands of the 1980s, known for hits including "Jump" and "Panama", and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Eddie died in 2020; Alex published a memoir about their relationship, "Brothers", in 2024.