Willem-Alexander, Máxima and Family, General News Part 2 (May 2013 - May 2017)

[Lee-Z]

Dutch media reports that several dutch royals attended a christmas service today in Hilversum (Netherlands): King and Queen, P.Beatrix, P.Constantijn and P.Laurentien and P.Mabel (Mabel's mother lives in Hilversum and attended too).

Even if WA and Maxima used to alternate yearly between Argentina and NL, i expect that will be changed now the are King and Queen (certain obligations as head of state..)

Kersttoespraak 2013 - Het Koninklijk Huis

King Willem-Alexander's first Christmas speech from today (in dutch)

 

[Jacknch]

Great to see the king's first Christmas address - the house looked lovely. I liked the cosiness of the fireside and the wreath on the front door!

 

[An Ard Ri]

The King's Christmas Speech from Youtube,really love the open wood fire!

Koning Willem-Alexander: Kersttoespraak 2013-12-25 - Royal Christmas Message - YouTube

 

[ashelen]

I love the paintings of the girls in the back ground! looks a very cozy place!

 

[hana]

do you think the 3 princess will participate in celebration of the King's Day

 

[Fanvanmaxima]

The RVD accounced a while ago that the thrwee princesses won't attend King's Day.

 

[Marengo]

The King and the princess of Orange attended a performance of the musical 'Soldier of Orange' about a Dutch resistance fighter in the second World War.

Royalty Online

--
In a column, Marc van der Linden holds a plea for some more media exposure for the three princesses. He compares the Dutch situation to Belgium and the Scandinavian monarchies, where we get to see more of the young royals:
http://www.royalty-online.nl/columns/3421/hebben-de-buitenlandse-royals-het-verkeerd-begrepen

 

[Marengo]

Last week Queen Máxima got stranded on the highway between Brussels and Antwerp, on her way back to The Hague from a visit to her favourite designer, Eduard Vermeulen/Natan.
Apparently she forgot to tank gasoline.

Máxima zonder benzine langs de weg | RTL Nieuws

 

[ashelen]

Máxima de Holanda también se olvida de repostar
well I guess one of the employes forgot to make sure she has gas in the car! hups!!! somebody is in trouble!

 

[Marengo]

While the king opened the 'kings games' this morning, his wife is volunteering for these games at the school of the princesses. The school holds a sponsor walk to raise money for a rare bone disease.

Royalty Online

 

[carlota]

hola reports a funny anecdote when maxima, this week, was driving her own car and run out of fuel. thankfully, the security car going with her had a bottle of fuel. it happened in the E19 between amberes and brussels, after she visited natan's stylist Vermeulen, and they speculate the visit was to discuss her outfit that she wore for king's day a few days after...

Máxima de Holanda también se olvida de repostar

 

[tommy100]

wow surprised that now she is Queen Maxima has time to travel that far she seems to have been mega busy so far!

 

[ashelen]

and if it is true I m sure she is not the one who put petrol in the car, she must have employes who do that and if they didn't check that i'm sure who ever is , is in huge trouble!

 

[Marengo]

wow surprised that now she is Queen Maxima has time to travel that far she seems to have been mega busy so far!

Wassenaar-The Hague should be possible in two hours by car if there arent any traffic jams.

 

[tommy100]

i'm surprised that she has to travel to a fashion designer and that a fashion designer wouldn't travel to her.

 

[sjetajiem]

Wassenaar-The Hague should be possible in two hours by car if there arent any traffic jams.

Wassenaar-The Hague could be done in half an hour
Otherwise that would be a super traffic jam.

The Hague-Brussels could be done by car in approximately 3 1/2 hours

 

[Lee-Z]

Wassenaar-The Hague could be done in half an hour
Otherwise that would be a super traffic jam.

The Hague-Brussels could be done by car in approximately 3 1/2 hours

Maybe Den-Haag/Wassenaar is 2 hours if she uses the golden carriage (that would be a sight )

 

[Marengo]

hehe, maybe they should give it a try.
But yes I meant Wassenaar-Brussels. According to routenet.nl it is 2 hours, but I have never driven it myself as I usually take the train so it may be longer indeed, esp. considering the traffic.

Anyway, it is safe to assume HM will clear out a day for such a visit. It must take some time to get the outfits right. Vermeulen says she visited him twice a year usually. One of the big advantages of his brand is that he offers a total package, in a tandem with hatmaker Fabienne Delvigne. See the interview of Els Smit with Vermeulen (Dutch only): Royal Glitter Interview: Edouard Vermeulen

 

[sjetajiem]

Anyway it was a lovely occasion to see the fast complete royal family.
Well the next family reunion would be the christening of Princess Zita Clara de Bourbon de Parme and her unborn cousin Brenninkmeijer.

The next time they should indeed take the TGV

 

[Marengo]

I suppose that the son of Floris and Aimee still needs to be baptised too? But it seems that they wait until the boy can walk to the baptismal font himself.

---
In the mean time.. the family has an empty agenda as there it is a school holiday. The king and queen will attend the national remembrance and liberation events later this week though.

 

[roseroyal]

I'm not sure this is the right thread, but don't The Dutch Royal Family come out for big national holiday on April 30, or am I mistaken?

 

[julliette]

If you mean the King's Day, it already happened on the 26th. It's the following thread:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...-april-2014-de-rijp-and-amstelveen-33971.html

 

[sjetajiem]

I heard that Willem Jan van Vollenhoven will probably be baptized after the summer holidays.
That is August/September 2014.
No official announcement.
So I suppose that the Bourbon de Parme children will be baptized before their van Vollenhoven cousin.
They are Roman Catholics and the van Vollenhoven branch is protestant.

 

[Marengo]

Thanks for that info!

---
The ombuds(wo)man / public advocate of newspaper the 'Volkskrant' wrote a very angry article in her own newspaper about her own newspaper. The newspaper published a letter that was sent to them by a reader. The letter contained among other things derogatory comments about the three princesses on Kingsday. It focussed on their weight, dresses, and skintone.

The ombudsman is angry at her own newspaper for publishing such a letter and says that the responsibility lies first and foremost with the editor of this section of the newspaper. She is worried that such remarks will trouble the daughters of the king at school for example.

'Ook prinsesjes kunnen gepest en gekwetst worden' - Ombudsvrouw - VK

 

[Tiggersk8]

Thanks for that info!

---
The ombuds(wo)man / public advocate of newspaper the 'Volkskrant' wrote a very angry article in her own newspaper about her own newspaper. The newspaper published a letter that was sent to them by a reader. The letter contained among other things derogatory comments about the three princesses on Kingsday. It focussed on their weight, dresses, and skintone.

The ombudsman is angry at her own newspaper for publishing such a letter and says that the responsibility lies first and foremost with the editor of this section of the newspaper. She is worried that such remarks will trouble the daughters of the king at school for example.

'Ook prinsesjes kunnen gepest en gekwetst worden' - Ombudsvrouw - VK

Good for her!! She's dead on target w/her comments too.

 

[ashelen]

wow, what they coud say about the colour of their skin? my goodness are white girls! and how they dare to publish something like that hope the parents shield them from that!

 

[MARG]

Erm, not too sure what you are trying to say here?

I think the media have a duty to keep their "personal" comments about children, any children, to themselves. The rules of adult fashion critique do not apply and as to what they were wearing, well "if they couldn't print something nice they ought to have printed nothing at all". And in this case they printed a letter and merrily provided a photo just in case anyone missed the point.

Bullying is ugly and let's face it, when it comes to fashion and clothing, the York Princesses have been the butt of many a joke and vicious comments about their sense of fashion or more devastingly, their weight. They, unfortunately, were young girls, adolescents and teenagers before the movement against bullying really got under way and the law had teeth. Their young lives were littered with cruel bullying given a "Voice" by the media. Note, these girls are not exactly the first in line to the throne.

Princess's Amalia, Alexia and Ariane are numbers one, two and three in line to the throne and that is not going to change for a very long time. Certainly not before their collective majority (barring tragedy). What a stirling example this paper has provided that their Crown Princess can now become their very own poster child for Bullying Victims.

Bottom line: Hands off all kids, as the Ombudswoman said: "Even princesses can be bullied and hurt". I

 

[Lee-Z]

The comment was not made by "the media" as such but in a section where the general public can express their opinion; where should the media draw the line in chosing which comments to publish or not...isn't this all part of "freedom of speech"?
On these forums "freedom of speech" is often used as an excuse in saying all kinds of things about people, this is no different from an opinion sent in by a reader of a newspaper.

Imo Freedom of speech is a great prerogative, but it shouldn't mean that anyone should say whatever they want at whatever time and place they want, there is also such a thing as common decency, which a lot of people tend to forget nowadays.

The letter-writer who didn't like the look of the princesses cloths was rebuffed later by other letter-writers; isn't that exactly how it should work?

 

[carlota]

that's horrible behaviour, to attack 3 children in such a public manner. how sad that person must be to channel her energy to attack kids.

wow, what they coud say about the colour of their skin? my goodness are white girls!

what do you mean ashelen? to me this implies that if they weren't white something would be wrong with them / they would deserve to be bashed for their skin colour? really? is such comment necessary? i really don't know what you meant here, but it definitely sounds completely wrong to me.

 

[Lee-Z]

What was said about color (by the letter-writer) was that "pale-beige is not a good color for three rather colorless girls"; not a sweet comment, but stated this way (and in a dutch setting) this is not aimed at their skin-color, but rather to be explained as "the one who chose the dresses should have chosen brighter colors" and with a possible sneer to a colorless personality, which is ofcourse unfair because we tend to not see the girls enough to judge their personality, but still has nothing to do with skincolor as such..