Dutch Royals Unveil, Speak, Listen And More…

These last days queen Beatrix, her son prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima had several public activities. On Tuesday HM the Queen went to Slochteren (Groningen), where she celebrated the 50th anniversary of the drilling for gas in the province of Groningen. The queen unveiled an appropriate piece of art from Marc Ruygrok : a methane molecule of 8 meters high. On Wednesday attended the final ceremony of the anti racism conference at the Hydepark Conference Centre in Doorn. The anti racism programme has been organized by the world counsil of churches.

On Tuesday the prince of Orange went to Delft to open the conference SASBSE 2009 Smart and Sustainable Built Environments), about sustainable building, with a speech. The conference was held at the Technical University, another speaker was the former astronaut and professor Wubbo Ockels. On Wednesday the prince travelled to Lausanne, where the cadidate cities for the Olympics of 2016 presented themselves to the IOC (International Olympic Comitee). In October the IOC will decide in Copenhagen who will organize the Olympics of 2016: Chicago, Tokio, Rio de Janeiro or Madrid.

Princess Máxima visited two projects of the Orange Fund’s ‘growth programme’ on Tuesday. First the princess spoke with the people who took the initiative for the programme ‘Celebrate Life’ in the town Broek in Waterland (north of Amsterdam). This organization organizes visits to concerts and theatre for senior citizens who can not vist them alone. The second programme she visited was ‘Computerwijk’ (computer neighbourhood) in Amsterdam-West. In this programme 100 volunteers teach the people in their neighbourhood how to use a computer. Afterwards the princess was spotted by Amsterdam’s local television station AT5 while she paid a private visit to the modern art gallery Borzo in Amsterdam. On thursday the princess attended an annual meeting of the Rabobank about the importance and the challenges of ‘Development Banking’. Princess Máxima speeched for the 1200 participants about the importance of micro finance and the development of the rural sector. The meeting was held at the Jaarbeurshallen in Utrecht.

Tomorrow HM the Queen will open the ‘Hermitage on the Amstel’, the Amsterdam dependence of the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. Around 700 journalists have already travelled to Amsterdam to report on the opening, as did Russian president Dmitri Medvedev. The president will open the museum with the Dutch queen and both will attend a special concert on the river Amstel.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged International Olympic Committee, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Microfinance, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, The Oranje Fonds.