Prince Of Orange Takes Family To The Vancouver Olympics: Four Extra Days of Vacation for Princess Amalia

On Monday the Dutch court announced that Prince Willem-Alexander will go to the Vancouver Winter Olympics with his wife and with his three daughters. From February 9th to 12th the prince will be participating in the 122nd meeting of the IOC in Vancouver. After that the prince will attend the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver from February 12th to 28th. Princesses Máxima, Amalia, Alexia and Ariane will join the prince in Canada and will attend various competitions.

Yesterday the RVD (Gouvernment Information Service) released a statement saying that the decision of the prince and princess to take their daughters to Vancouver for two weeks is in accordance with the ‘leerplichtwet’ (Compulsary Education Law). The normal primary school holiday in February however only lasts one week, and a look on the website of the Bloemcampschool shows that the 6 year old princess Amalia, at least has to miss four days of school due to this holiday.

However, the Compulsary Education Law gives the school director the right to give a child 10 extra free days a year, without consulting the ministry of Education. The school director can decide if the child won’t get behind due to the extra days of holiday and if there are special reasons to grant them.

Last year, princess Amalia also got extra days off to enjoy the annual ski holiday of the royal family in Lech, Switzerland. The news that the princesses again have extra holidays did not get many positive reactions on opinion websites and in newspapers. Many people think it is unfair that the princesses get some extra days off this easily, while it is very difficult for other children. As the prince of Orange and his wife annually already have more days off than the average person, people do not see the need to ask for extra days of holiday yet again. Queen Beatrix and prince Claus usually took their children on holiday during the christmas vacation, to prevent these kind of discussions, according to royalblog.nl.

Considering the severe critisicm on the crown prince in the last six months, it would have been advisable for him not to make himself vulnerable to a new source of criticism, but alas…

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Education, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Olympic Games, Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Princess Ariane of the Netherlands, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, The Princess of Orange, Vancouver 2010.

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