Vollenhoven family : Current News & Pictures

[tenngirl]

PrincessOlga,
I thought that the Queen was a billionaire in her own right. Why is she taking money from the government if she has all of this personal money?

I really like these girls. I adored Aimee on her wedding day, I thought she seemed so sweet! Anita seems to be very sweet too.

Like others have said, I wish they were photographed more often!

Tenngirl

[Zonk]

Princess Olga...you make very valid points. And your post illustrates what makes this forum so informative. I had no idea about the Ahold scandal or the fact that many Dutch thought that they lived in a classless society. We ALL live in class based society.

[Alexandria]

Originally Posted by princess olga

You absolutely have a point but you have to take into account that this is coming at a time in the Netherlands when the long-suffering, average Dutch person, who, mind you, has been paying THROUGH THE NOSE in taxes for as long as I've been on this planet to help sustain their classless society, is discovering their society is perhaps not so classless after all.

By virtue of the fact that a monarchy exists implies some class level in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is not a republic, has a queen whose eldest son will succeed her, followed by his eldest daughter and so forth, so not everyone is equal in the Netherlands since not everyone will be Queen or King one day.

But if you say that 1% of the population is of a higher class than the 99% that is one thing. And I would say that the van Vollenhoven family would be part of that 1% along with the Queen's sons and their families and the wealthiest of Dutch citizens -- of which there are bound to be some since I highly doubt that everyone, regardless of their job or position within their company, makes the same salary.

I think that a classless society doesn't really exist. There can be societies where the classes are not as differentiated but a true classless society, especially one headed (even symbolically) by a monarchy doesn't exist.

I don't have a problem with the van Vollenhoven sons and their wives having special parking permits. When they attend special occasions -- which is rare but they still do -- such as Pieter-Christiaan attending a memorial service with his father, or the events Maurits periodically attended with his grandfather Bernhard, or the opening of the van Vollenhoven brides exhibit Margriet, Pieter and all four of their daughter-in-laws or Queen's Day, my understanding is that they are not compensated financially for these occasions which take them away from their actual jobs for a day or a few hours of a day.

And considering that they don't have any personal protection and the two eldest van Vollenhoven sons and their young families especially are frequently photographed -- last year Marilene famously so nursing her infant daughter -- by less savoury photographers, I would say that it's a fair trade off. I never see as many pictures of Willem and Maxima with their daughters out and about in the park as I see of Maurits, Marilene, Bernhard Jr. and Annette with their young brood. As the Crown Princely couple Willem and Maxima are able to set certain parameters with the press, including with holding access from certain publications who photograph them privately, which the van Vollenhovens didn't do for years until very recently.

The family also shares the private moments of their lives that they aren't expected to not being part of the royal family officially, such as pictures from their weddings and baptisms of their children. Like it or not, they are public figures and do belong in the least to the Queen's family and both of their parents have devoted their lives to representing the Netherlands at home and abroad -- and quite well, too. I think that some perks and privileges not normally bestowed to the typical Dutch person is warranted in this case.

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by Alexandria

By virtue of the fact that a monarchy exists implies some class level in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is not a republic, has a queen whose eldest son will succeed her, followed by his eldest daughter and so forth, so not everyone is equal in the Netherlands since not everyone will be Queen or King one day.

But if you say that 1% of the population is of a higher class than the 99% that is one thing. And I would say that the van Vollenhoven family would be part of that 1% along with the Queen's sons and their families and the wealthiest of Dutch citizens -- of which there are bound to be some since I highly doubt that everyone, regardless of their job or position within their company, makes the same salary.

I think that a classless society doesn't really exist. There can be societies where the classes are not as differentiated but a true classless society, especially one headed (even symbolically) by a monarchy doesn't exist.

I agree with you a classless society doesn't really exist, although the Netherlands came as close as could be: society there is structured, or was, structured in a way that allowed most people to be middle class. Which today they mostly are. The downside of that structure also was that it was designed so that people would STAY middle class! But that's changing.

As for the Netherlands not being a republic, that is not true actually, weirdly. The Netherlands is still, constitutionally, a republic, and it would literally take erasing ONE single sentence in the constitution to oust the King, (Beatrix may be a woman and we may know her as queen, she took te oath as King of the Netherlands, and that's what she is).
Don't follow? Neither do I, but this is how it is as far as I'm told by people who know more about this sort of thing than I do.

One other point: sure by virtue of the Netherlands having a monarch you'd think that the Dutch would accept that there's some sort of elite in the country, but believe me, most people there used to not see their society that way.
You're thinking to linearly, Alexandria! The Dutch don't always make sense, not even to themselves.

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by tenngirl

PrincessOlga,
I thought that the Queen was a billionaire in her own right.

No one exactly knows how much she and her family are worth. I do get the impression though that the Oranjes are downplaying their wealth.
It is said that Beatrix (read: the Oranjes) is one of the largest individual stock holders of Royal Dutch Shell.

If that's not enough, much of the family's (as well as the nation's) wealth today is said to have stemmed from the huge huge revenues that used to flood in from what used to be their colony at the time, Indonesia. Beatrix's ancestors, the various 'King Willems' of the 19th century, are said to have enjoyed huge wealth out of the opium trade the Dutch conducted to and from Indonesia. (to be fair, the whole country of the Netherlands derived wealth that way, in fact, that's how some of the now monstrously big Dutch banks were founded, with opium money).

What is a fact is that by the time the family had to flee the Netherlands when Hitler invaded it, the van Oranjes had a fortune worth in the multiple millions. In stocks.
This fact has been used by some authors to play down the Oranjes' wealth today. "The Oranjes 'merely' owned a couple million (guilders) at the time of the war, they say, so the family's not that rich."
Others disagree, and it's been pointed out that anyone owning a few million in stocks around the time of WW2, if they kept the money invested in stocks, these people could today easily, totally easily, be worth a couple billion dollars.

But who knows. The Oranjes are keeping mum. Bernhard, Beatrix's dad, who died a few years ago, always disputed publicly that the family was filthy rich. Was he right? Don't know. It <is> true he was forthcoming about his wife, Juliana, suffering from dementia when Beatrix had ordered absolute secrecy about that. And it turned out Bernard had told the truth about his wife's then medical condition..so maybe he was also truthful about the family's wealth?

This is why for all the flaws of a country like the US of A, at least we here know exactly how much Bush, the president is worth!

Originally Posted by tenngirl

Why is she taking money from the government if she has all of this personal money?

Ha! You are asking the $3 billion dollar question! :) She certainly could pay for ALL the parking permits of her nephews and then some!

[tenngirl]

PrincessOlga,
That is something that bugs me about all these Royal Families. If you have personal wealth, why don't you use it for your clothes, etc? Especially if the money originally came from government money that was invested! Why do you force the poor citizen on the street that may be struggling to survive to pay for stuff?

I did not know about the situation with that corporation. That judge sounds a little wild not to put the guy in jail.

I wonder, as time goes by and the population in Europe ages, how stable the monarchies will be? You mention the issue with the Dutch being frustrated because some of the benefits are being taken away. I wonder if that will be the same across Europe and we will see more and more dissatisfaction (SP??)as the years go by?

This post is like totally off topic, sorry everyone!!!!:o

[princess olga]

Originally Posted by tenngirl

PrincessOlga,
That is something that bugs me about all these Royal Families. If you have personal wealth, why don't you use it for your clothes, etc?

Well to be fair, the whole circus that the monarch is a part of, is enormously costly, what with personnel costs, travel costs, time, preperation, etcetera.
So there are a lot of expenses involved in this process and to be fair to the current Queen, she IS doing this on behalf of the Dutch people, so why should she and she alone pick up the tab?

Originally Posted by tenngirl

Why do you force the poor citizen on the street that may be struggling to survive to pay for stuff?

The thing is that still today the 'poor citizen' of the Netherlands, or at least a vast majority of them, is happily paying for this kind of thing. If they didn't want their monarchy anymore, they'd only have to scrap one single sentence out of their constitution.

But, see, here's the secret about the Dutch: they're really, at heart, traditionalists. They really value things like family: unlike most other countries in Europe, the majority of Dutch women does NOT hold a full time job. They could, they're all extremely well-educated, but their priority is bringing up their kids, and who can blame them!

But I think with respect to the whole parking permit situation that if things like this continue to surface, and as the Dutch are more and more irked by revelations like recently when it came out that both Beatrix and Alexander/Maxima continue to reserve the official, governmental plane, yep that is the one also used by the prime minister, for their own multiple PRIVATE vacations, that's just not wise from a PR perspective.

That is, not if they want to ensure that, say, 4 decades down the line here, Amalia will be guaranteed her grandma's prestigious gig.

Back to the parking issue, come to think of it, Margriet's two youngest sons and their spouses aren't even members any more of the Dutch Royal House! And relatively innocent it may be that these grandsons of Juliana are allowed to park any place like only doctors are allowed to do in Amsterdam, the Dutch may start to get the impression that this may be the tip of the proverbial ice berg, whether that's true or not.

[Marengo]

I think you explained the situation rather well princess Olga!
As Amsterdam did not have the same 19th century restructuring as Brussels,m Paris etc, the streets are narrow and it is terribly difficult to drive through the city, let alone to park there. So anything what happens related to this problem hits an open nerve of the people who live there and use these roads/ parking spots. I remember that the Queens 60th birthday party gave a number of complaints in AMsterdam as well: streets were blocked for a PRIVATE party (of people who live in The Hague).

That the grandsons of Queen Juliana are able to park everywhere seems unjust. The safety reason the RVD gives is clearly bogus as the princes do many other things in public, even breast feeding. So it cannot be to keep them of the street.

I think if Willem-Alexander or the Queen would get a permit like this, or even prince Constantijn, it would have been less of an issue, as they are closer to the throne. But the van Vollenhoven family are considered private citizens (which is not completely true, as Maurits, Marilene, Bernhard and Annette are not), so why would they get a thing like this?

To be honest I do not think that even Marilene and Maurits get that much of intruisive media attention these days. The press clearly focusses on Willem-Alexander, Maxima, Amalia and Alexia. I think in the future they will eclips the other royals even more.

The reason that dispite all this there still are some paparazzi pictures of Maurits etc is that Maurits, Bernhard jr. and their families both live in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid, near Vondelpark and PC Hooftstraat, where a lot of dutch celebrities live/shop/walk etc etc. So the photographers are in the neighbourhood anyway, so why not make a picture of the princes as well? The two couples decided themselves to live in that area, but then they should not complain in they get some media attention (as I said, not that much IMO). For example: the only paparazzi pictures of Aimee and Floris were taken in....PC Hooftstaat!! And not in the area they live (Het Gooi).

[Princess Robijn]

I'm not sure if it has been posted before (if so, ignore this reply also if it is the wrong thread, can someone put it in the right thread?)

Princess Margriet, Pieter van Vollenhoven, Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita went to de musical 'The Lion King' on the 27th of august. Anita's belly is really showing :) there is a picture..

Princess Margriet was wearing purple and Princess Anita was wearing acréme/beige dress with a (lightly) brown shawl and flat sparkling shoes


Edit: the story was in a Dutch magazine called 'Party.'

[Marengo]

The issues with the parking permits of the princes in Amsterdam has been resolved. They have to give the free permits back and can pay with their mobile phones. Prince Benrhard jr is still allowed to park his Ferrari in some garage that belongs to the city of Amsterdam though.

[elenaris]

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/fotos_...9/index_7.html
I ove the picture attached ...

[Royalsa]

The funeral of Willem Jan van Vollenhoven (brother of Pieter) was at September 16th. You can find pictures here: http://www.fotovantellingen.nl. Search for 'Willem Jan van Vollenhoven'.

[Princess Robijn]

also here: http://www.petersmulders.nl

[Alexandria]

Looking at the funeral pictures for Jan van Vollenhoven, it's amazing how much the van Vollenhoven daughters-in-law look alike. Marilene and Annette even wore similar dresses. (And always, when I seee pictures of Annette I am struck by the simplicity and naturalness of her beauty. She looks like someone I would want to be friends with!)

It's nice to see that Constantijn and three of the Borbon-Parma kids (Carlos, Jamie and Margarita) attended the funeral, too. I think that is a nice show of support for Pieter and their van Vollenhoven cousins.

[Marengo]

A lot of dutch prominents attended to: former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and his wife Ria, Ivo Opstelten, mayor of Rotterdam, Chariman of parlament: Frans Weisglas, former mayor of Rotterdam & former minister of the interior Bram Peper etc.

[lucien]

HRH Princess Margriet,Prof.Pieter van Vollenhoven and TH Prince Bernhard,Princess Annette,Prince Floris and Princess Aimée will attend the annual Peter Stuyvesant Ball at the Grand Hyatt,NYC this friday,november 17th.

http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=17001

[Marengo]

Great, I hope there will be any pictures. This will be the first timne for Aimee, right?

-
The mail from the 2nd chamber to Princess Margriet was nothing shocking: a member of parliament wanted to send two books with pictures of the Paralympics of 2002 and 2004 to the Princess. The elderly man who received the package did not even open it & saw it as a perfect oppertunity of a 'joke' (or so he says now): ask the state 2.5 million euros for the package, as he thought the state was responsible for the bankrupcy of his company in 1980.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Great, I hope there will be any pictures. This will be the first timne for Aimee, right?

-
The mail from the 2nd chamber to Princess Margriet was nothing shocking: a member of parliament wanted to send two books with pictures of the Paralympics of 2002 and 2004 to the Princess. The elderly man who received the package did not even open it & saw it as a perfect oppertunity of a 'joke' (or so he says now): ask the state 2.5 million euros for the package, as he thought the state was responsible for the bankrupcy of his company in 1980.

Yes it's Princess Aimée's first at the Peter Stuyvesant Ball.

For comments,and maybe first pics of the event,keep an eye or two on this link of "Flying Dutchman" HJA,previously Down-Under and NZ,presently Antilles,tomorrow NYC,a great read anyway..... (btw,look for the laundry story....)
http://www.royalblog.nl/

[royalgertjan]

the first photo's of the ball!!

http://s2.supload.com/image.php?get=4024098.jpg

http://s2.supload.com/image.php?get=4024099.jpg

http://s2.supload.com/image.php?get=4024100.jpg

ANP

[Marengo]

According to today's (sunday) Telegraaf there was an akward silence during the Stuyvesant Ball. Traditionally the people there toast on the heads of state of The Netherlands and the USA but when a toast to the American President was made most of the public remained silent.