King Willem-Alexander & Queen Máxima Visit Bonaire & Aruba

At the invitation of the Governor of Bonaire, Edison Rijna, and of the Governor of Aruba, Fredis Refunjol, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima started on Thursday April 30, a three-day visit to Bonaire and Aruba.

Upon arriving in Bonaire, the first event for the Royal Couple was a visit to the Bonaire Youth Outreach Foundation. The Foundation aims to help young people from disadvantaged environments with activities, events and projects.  In early afternoon, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima went to Rincon, in the north of Bonaire. There, the King and the Queen attended the “Dia de Rincon”, a national holiday held every year on April 30.

The Royal Couple attended all the activities of the celebration, they danced with the children, attended the performances of folkloric dancers and visited several stands of local food like goat soup, pumpkin pancakes, coconut cakes.

Afterwards, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima went to the ChiChi ‘Tan Museum where the King received the first edition of a special sheet of stamps. The last event of the day was a visit to the “Fundashon Krusada”, established in 1999, the foundation helps ex-prisoners and former addicts to prepare to return to society. The foundation is one of the winners of the “Appeltjes van Oranje” 2015, Queen Máxima will hand out the prize on May 21.

In the evening the Royal Couple arrived in Aruba with a charter flight, they were greeted by Governor Refunjol and Prime Minister Mike Eman.

On Friday May 1st, the King and the Queen attended the opening of SAIL Aruba, a maritime festival to mark the 350th anniversary of the Marine Corps and the commemoration of the 200 year of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The event took place in the port of Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba.

At the ceremony were present also the American and Dutch Coastguard, the British Royal Navy and the Canadian “tall ship” Picton Castle. Queen Máxima also gave the starting shot for a youth sailing competition.

In the afternoon, the King and the Queen attended the demonstration of the Royal Navy and Coast Guard Caribbean, an exhibition of the Aruban Port Authority (APA) and they made a visit to the Seafood Festival. Later in the evening, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima attended at the musical ” Soldier of Orange” in the harbour of Oranjestad.

On Saturday May 2, their last day in Aruba, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited two Oranje Fonds Projects: the Probation that helps young people to gain a place in society after problems with the law, and the Heart Centered Leadership Foundation that helps young people to develop as community leaders.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Aruba, Bonaire, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Official Visit, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.