The trip is made at the invitation of the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research in the frame of the International Polar Year.
The Princely Couple will be accompanied by the government Minister for Education and Sciences,Dr.Ronald Plasterk
and Prof.Engelen,Chair of the DOSR.
The first leg will take the party to Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile.The visit emphasizes on dutch
research work in Antarctica as well as the dutch/british cooperation in that field over the past 20 years.The Netherlands
have a small but state of the art scientific program aimnig at international cooperation on Antarctica
TRH and other members of the party will be guests of the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera research station,Antarctica.
The effects of climate change on the polar ice fields of Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula are on the program,
the Patagonia ice-cap,the third largest in the world,melts fast.
Het Koninklijk Huis