King Albert buys New Yacht
Click to see article at lanouvellegazette.be
New controversy hits Belgium while the royals are enjoying their holiday. It has become known that King Albert II of Belgium has bought a new yacht, the “Alpa” of 27 m long, 6.3 m wide, and capable of going up to 30 knots. According to the website of deredactie.be, the yacht is a “Technema 90″, built by the shipyard Rizzardi. Research of Soir Magazine has revealed that the catalogue price of such a boat is no less than 4.6 million euros. The acquisition of the new boat is very remarkable, as the King bought another yacht, the Quatuor, a “Incredibile 45″ of around 1.5 million euros, only two years ago. According to some sources, this boat would be for sale now.
Spokesman Pierre-Emmanuel De Bauw says that the King invests in the yacht because it is the only place where he can truly enjoy some privacy. He also stipulates that the King already bought the yacht last year, but that, since it is a private matter, the Palace did not communicate about it.
The Flemish right-wing party NVA already criticized this latest splurge of the royal family very severely. “So much for more ethics and less materialism, like the King said in his speech for the National Day”, says parliamentary Ben Weyts.
See here for an article in Dutch on deredactie.be and hln.be
See here for an article in French.
