The Royal Family of The Netherlands: Current Events, Part 2

[Gillian]

very beautifull pictures

[Australian]

I like how Queen Beatrix always seems to be smiling in her photos, I liked Maxima was wearing, although i don't really like that colour normally as i find that it suits elderly people more than a young lady, but it still looked good.
Bit surprised with what the Queen wore, but not too bad.

[carlota]

i loved this set of pictures of maxima with the mexican writter. they both look very at ease and they are very tender photos... it's a nice gesture how maxima holds him.

http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ri1305157bo.jpg
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...6&d=1147577384
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...1&d=1147531502

[Squidgy]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Here's the pic of Beatrix and Pieter Marengo is talking of. :)
(source: Telegraaf)

Great picture Maxie!

Pieter seems to be a wonderful companion for Beatrix on her public duties. I always smile when I see them acting affectionately towards each other. Last year, about this time, I was watching live CBC coverage of the Queen, Margriet & Pieter attending a WWII memorial service. Margriet was off talking with some veterans & Pieter was escorting the Queen around. I nearly fell off my chair when the CBC commentator referred to Pieter as the Queen's husband.

[bbb]

i like maximas outfit and i find myself looking at QB lovely smiling face and don't even see the dress. she is such a special lady, u can see why the Dutch people love her so much, she just radiates warmth.
thanks for the photos

[popy]

Originally Posted by carlota

i loved this set of pictures of maxima with the mexican writter. they both look very at ease and they are very tender photos... it's a nice gesture how maxima holds him.

http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ri1305157bo.jpg
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...6&d=1147577384
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...1&d=1147531502

Sorry carlota, but he is not Carlos Fuentes the Mexican writter

[Her_Majesty]

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...7&d=1147469579 (PPE)
That's such a nice picture :)
Beatrix and Pieter seem to be very close with each other.

(btw, this is my first post here :) )

[Marengo]

Well, welcome on board, Her_Majesty! I agree, the picture is lovely, and Pieter and Beatrix seem to be close to each other now. This was not always the case. Dorine Hermans wrote a book about Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven a couple of years ago and according to this book Bernhard and Beatrix had their doubts about Pieter. For example: Juliana wanted to give Pieter a title, but Bernhard and Beatrix were against it.

[Her_Majesty]

Yeah I heard something like that ,too.
I even heard that Margriet said once: If she had to decide between her right to the throne or her marriage with Peter , she would have chosen the throne. (maybe because there was so much trouble these days, caused by the marriage of Irene and the engagement of Beatrix)...

[Marengo]

You are right, Margriet said that out of respect for her parents she would have chosen the throne, as Irene already lost her rights to the throne and Christina was not inclined to ' help out' much either.

[purple_platinum]

2 more from ANP of Maxima in Middelburg :

[Squidgy]

Originally Posted by Marengo

I agree, the picture is lovely, and Pieter and Beatrix seem to be close to each other now. This was not always the case. Dorine Hermans wrote a book about Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven a couple of years ago and according to this book Bernhard and Beatrix had their doubts about Pieter. For example: Juliana wanted to give Pieter a title, but Bernhard and Beatrix were against it.

Oh, some good gossip Marengo!!

I wonder why Bernhard & Beatrix didn't want Pieter to have a title? Was it back in the early days & they didn't feel that Pieter had had a chance to prove himself yet and they were afraid to trust him with a title? or was it a personality clash? or just plain pettiness?

[Emily]

Oh Jess, great pictures of Maxima -- really can see how pretty that outfit is...thank you! I wonder who made it?

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Squidgy

Oh, some good gossip Marengo!!

I wonder why Bernhard & Beatrix didn't want Pieter to have a title? Was it back in the early days & they didn't feel that Pieter had had a chance to prove himself yet and they were afraid to trust him with a title? or was it a personality clash? or just plain pettiness?

The book is a bit mixed about it. It suggests that Bernhard (and Beatrix) weren't to impressed by him as a person, as he did not have any carreer etc. But I think it was foremost the principle that counted. Beatrix considered it oldfashioned to create him a count or a baron, as nobilty and titles did not play any role in the dutch society. Also, to make him a prince would create a precedent which might lead to problems in the next generation.

[Marengo]

From www.koninklijkhuis.nl, the speech by Princess Maxima:

Address by Princess Máxima, 13 May 2006

at the presentation of the Freedom from Want Award to Muhammed Yunus in Middelburg

Freedom from Want, President Roosevelt said, was a commitment to erase hunger, poverty and pestilence from the earth. He challenged the nations engaged in war to strive together in peace to achieve this magnificent objective, hopefully leading the world to the greatest age of Mankind.

On this 13th day of May, 2006, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Award for Freedom from Want is given to
Muhammad Yunus
the founder of the micro-credit movement, a visionary who lifted the poorest people of his country to new horizons of hope, a revolutionary who took the creative energy of capitalism and combined it with the moral obligations of social responsibility; a teacher and a leader who has inspired followers in countless places to understand that trust and solidarity are collateral assets of the poor.
Bangladesh is your birthplace and remains your home. Encouraged by parents who stressed the need of education and who gave you a legacy of compassion to enrich your brilliance, you became a Fulbright Scholar and earned a doctorate in economics at Vanderbilt University, returning to become a leading economist in your own country. In 1974, Bangladesh suffered a terrible famine in which thousands starved to death. As you witnessed the tragedy where life and death lost all meaning, your intellectual understanding of economics gave way to your need to understand the real-life economics of the very poor. “Why was it,” you asked, “that people who worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week, did not have enough food to eat?”

You took your students on a field trip to the village of Jobra. You interviewed women who made bamboo furniture. Their labor was without profit. The lack of access to reasonable credit facilities made them prisoners of a system that assured their poverty. You understood that very small loans could make a significant difference in a poor person’s ability to survive.
With $27 dollars from your own pocket, you made the first loan to these village women who not only repaid it but also established a growing business that gave security to their families. A new concept – micro-credit – was born. It sounds simple today but in 1974 it took courage, wisdom and genius to do something to change the poverty you had observed. A great idea took root and altered the world of the very poor in dramatic and hopeful ways.

The traditional banking world was skeptical when you established the Grameen Bank in 1976 to make loans to the poor, but the bank’s record sustains your instincts. Grameen has made over $5 billion dollars in micro-loans with a repayment rate of 99%, a percentage unparalleled anywhere in the banking world – and all from the unbankable” the desperately poor. Your bank is owned by those it helps. It has made over 16 million loans, 96% to women, the most marginalized group among the poorest of the poor. The economic empowerment of women has had a dramatic impact on stabilizing their families as well as strengthening the communities where they live. You helped prove that women are powerful agents of change and creative managers of meager resources.
The micro-credit movement has allowed millions of individuals to work their way out of poverty with dignity. You have advocated that the right to credit should be recognized as a fundamental human right. The results of your work give powerful meaning to your advocacy. Increasing income, improving social and health situations in families and empowering women and men to a better involvement in the social, economic and political structure. Today, thousands of institutions all over the world operate micro-credit programs. All of them, inspired by your example.

There are those who say that your work is the single most important development in the struggle to eradicate Third World poverty in the past century. We know that you have made freedom possible for countless millions -- Freedom from Want. In the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a grateful world salutes your extraordinary achievement.

[Squidgy]

Originally Posted by Marengo

The book is a bit mixed about it. It suggests that Bernhard (and Beatrix) weren't to impressed by him as a person, as he did not have any carreer etc. But I think it was foremost the principle that counted. Beatrix considered it oldfashioned to create him a count or a baron, as nobilty and titles did not play any role in the dutch society. Also, to make him a prince would create a precedent which might lead to problems in the next generation.

You're a wealth of information as usual Marengo. Thanks!:)

I guess any of those explanations sound plausible. But if it's the first explanation, I would imagine that Beatrix has changed her mind since the 60s. The way most of the family turned out last month to watch Pieter officially become a professor, it was almost like they were honouring him with a royal title rather than an academic one. It was so nice to see such respect being paid to him by the rest of the Royal Family .

[Marengo]

True, she has turned around completely. The book also makes comments on that. I believe she especially valued her sisters and brother-in-laws support in times when Claus was ill (and the couple took more obligations on them). Beatrix (and all her sons) seems very fond of Pieter now, and Pieter seems fond about Beatrix.
In all honesty it must be said that Beatrix (if the story is true) and Bernhard weren't the only ones who had doubts about Pieter. Most of the courtiers were not very favorable to thie first marriage of a royal to a dutch commoner. And when they were married people wondered what on earth to do with Pieter, as he wasn't royal but could not be expected (or allowed) to pursue his own carreer to the fullest.