Willem-Alexander & Máxima Visit Australia & New Zealand: October 23-November 4, 2006


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You are absolutly right Australian!!!
 
I didn't realize they had had three days of vacation. I mean, come on, how much pressure could he have been under?

Is it true that they took a helicopter ride on this vacation? Or was this over to New Zealand? I was just wondering since the Princess was not able to fly earlier, it just seemed weird.

Personally, it makes you lose some respect, why couldn't they pay for their own vacation? You know the Royal House has way more money than most of the people in those towns.

I am wondering what the point of this trip is, anyway. Did the press finally get interested? I was on another board and the first couple of days was very quiet press wise. Has the money spent on them there brought in money for Australia or the Netherlands?

Just curious!
 
tenngirl said:
I didn't realize they had had three days of vacation. I mean, come on, how much pressure could he have been under?

Personally, it makes you lose some respect, why couldn't they pay for their own vacation? You know the Royal House has way more money than most of the people in those towns.

..
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Clearly you don't know the Oranje family, do you? ;) Couldn't agree more with your post. This attitude is par for the course for these people, which is what has been annoying me most over the years about this particular RF. Sure, they have more than enough money to pay for lavish vacations themselves, but why would they if the Dutch tax payer is weirdly lenient to this particular privileged family and its antics.

This kind of thing, glueing a little private vacation on the dime of whoever is paying for this official trip, is par for the course, and considered normal for the Orange clan, but it's not like they disclose this and advertise that they do this, either. They just do it and the tax payer gets to pick up the check. This is one of my biggest peeves with the Oranges, not so much THAT they do this but more their attitude towards this, as if they have every right and god forbid if a local reporter waits at the hotel and asks how they are doing!

Don't get me wrong, I am Queen Beatrix biggest fan, I think she is fantastic, and I don't begrudge these people these paid-for-by-the-long-suffering-Dutch-taxpayer, but in return, I would at least expect some friendly humbleness, or humble friendlyness, and with Alexander, you just, as this proves unfortunately once again, you just never know. There's arrogance to this that really annoys me and for all her friendlyness, Maxima endorses and condones this just as much. This kind of arrogance wouldn't go far in a lot of democracies and I'm hoping the Dutch will wake up and smell the coffee on this too.

Again, it's not so much that they <take> these vacations (though one could call it borderline unethical), but it's their attitude on top of it all that is really unprofessional and arrogant. This is what I always smelled about this particular crown prince, I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt for this trip because he's working hard for once, but needless to say, to no avail. I'm afraid he won't learn and he isn't really winning any fans this way. AND he's completely missing the point of what this trip is about: promoting his country overseas. Great promoter, this unpredictable prince. Not.
 
princess olga said:
Clearly you don't know the Oranje family, do you? ;) Couldn't agree more with your post. This attitude is par for the course for these people, which is what has been annoying me most over the years about this particular RF. Sure, they have more than enough money to pay for lavish vacations themselves, but why would they if the Dutch tax payer is weirdly lenient to this particular privileged family and its antics.

This kind of thing, glueing a little private vacation on the dime of whoever is paying for this official trip, is par for the course, and considered normal for the Orange clan, but it's not like they disclose this and advertise that they do this, either. They just do it and the tax payer gets to pick up the check. This is one of my biggest peeves with the Oranges, not so much THAT they do this but more their attitude towards this, as if they have every right and god forbid if a local reporter waits at the hotel and asks how they are doing!

Don't get me wrong, I am Queen Beatrix biggest fan, I think she is fantastic, and I don't begrudge these people these paid-for-by-the-long-suffering-Dutch-taxpayer, but in return, I would at least expect some friendly humbleness, or humble friendlyness, and with Alexander, you just, as this proves unfortunately once again, you just never know. There's arrogance to this that really annoys me and for all her friendlyness, Maxima endorses and condones this just as much. This kind of arrogance wouldn't go far in a lot of democracies and I'm hoping the Dutch will wake up and smell the coffee on this too.

Again, it's not so much that they <take> these vacations (though one could call it borderline unethical), but it's their attitude on top of it all that is really unprofessional and arrogant. This is what I always smelled about this particular crown prince, I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt for this trip because he's working hard for once, but needless to say, to no avail. I'm afraid he won't learn and he isn't really winning any fans this way. AND he's completely missing the point of what this trip is about: promoting his country overseas. Great promoter, this unpredictable prince. Not.
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i agree with you on this point and am disgusted that this happened.
 
it's just simple really, don't be rude to the host country who are paying for your trip.
 
oskana said:
i agree with you on this point and am disgusted that this happened.
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well from a human standpoint we can all imagine how this might have happened: this guy has been living in a fish bowl, as the saying goes, so I can understand where he is coming from. However, there are a lot of 'howevers' in this situation. He needs to understand that for one thing, he is <not> a normal human being and if he wants to be, he can be our guest and let his brother Constantijn be the heir to the Dutch throne. AND he was technically on duty, as in: he is on a trip promoting his country. And then you can't say, when it doesn't suit you when you step out on the streets of your host country and you are in a bad mood and people ask you things, you just can't say: "piss off". If you do that, people will question your validity at what you are trying to do, to be.

On top of it he was enjoying some private little vacation in between, paid for by the unassuming Dutch tax payer. Borderline unethical, in my book.

This is the issue with Alexander, this is why for ages I have said Alexander (and his wife) wanted their cake, and made sure they ate it, too. I thought they had changed, I thought they had picked up some pace, learned some lessons. I thought the free-loader stage was behind this couple for the most part.

But now we are noticing that not only it isn't, but that they (or at least Alexander) are arrogant about it to boot.
From a professional standpoint: unacceptable. From a human perspective: he goofed, and we all do that sometimes. Hopefully this is another lesson for him, but let's not hold our breath on this one. Again, this is why I hope Beatrix will keep that throne warm for a loooong time.
 
Seems as though today was not plain sailing either. According to a brief report on the local news tonight their plane had to make an emergency landing today after a smoke alert in the cabin! Don't know whether that event preceded or was after their helicopter trip over Abel Tasman National Park but they may be relieved to return home to the Netherlands and a less demanding terrain!!!!
 
princess olga said:
On top of it he was enjoying some private little vacation in between, paid for by the unassuming Dutch tax payer. Borderline unethical, in my book.

quote]
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I don't think the Dutch taxpayers were paying for this trip, I think the Australian and New Zealand tax payers are. I could be wrong, but the article posted about this says that local taxpayers were footing the bill.
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jobo said:
Seems as though today was not plain sailing either. According to a brief report on the local news tonight their plane had to make an emergency landing today after a smoke alert in the cabin! Don't know whether that event preceded or was after their helicopter trip over Abel Tasman National Park but they may be relieved to return home to the Netherlands and a less demanding terrain!!!!
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Wow, I didn't know that, thanks for the news! Keep us posted, you are more in the know than we are!:flowers:
 
Australian said:
I don't think the Dutch taxpayers were paying for this trip, I think the Australian and New Zealand tax payers are. I could be wrong, but the article posted about this says that local taxpayers were footing the bill.
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In that case, an even more pressing reason to be nice to people on the street, who paid for the stay!! Unbelievable, this. Alexander, what were you thinking?!:bang:
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That was rather rude of Willem Alexander. I think he's taken a page from the Prince Charles book of diplomacy.
 
i'm also quite shocked about what alexander said. it's however true that although it was a state visit, their time in between the visit to australia and the visit to new zeland was private. but i totally agree that he could have been politer. it costs nothing to say 'very well, thanks'.

i doubt however that anything was paid by the new zeland government while those days though.
 
i just have a question: what makes you think that the local taxpayers were paying for the leisure days of the prince and princess? as far as i know, and as far as everyone will understand, there's no reason for the local taxpayers to pay for their trip. so officially, we need to assume that the trip was paid by them, unless in their hotel they decided to give them the free nights because of being who they are, or something like this.

the new zeland government only pays for the trip of the princes when they are performing royal duties (that is, when attending a conference or going to an exposition - the government pays for the reception, drinks, flowers, and so on... that may be necessary). during their leisure time, there's none of these, so there's noone to pay for them. if they want to go somewhere, they pay for it, and i'm pretty sure this is what has been done.
 
carlota said:
i just have a question: what makes you think that the local taxpayers were paying for the leisure days of the prince and princess? as far as i know, and as far as everyone will understand, there's no reason for the local taxpayers to pay for their trip. so officially, we need to assume that the trip was paid by them, unless in their hotel they decided to give them the free nights because of being who they are, or something like this.

the new zeland government only pays for the trip of the princes when they are performing royal duties (that is, when attending a conference or going to an exposition - the government pays for the reception, drinks, flowers, and so on... that may be necessary). during their leisure time, there's none of these, so there's noone to pay for them. if they want to go somewhere, they pay for it, and i'm pretty sure this is what has been done.
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Quite possibly, however, the article posted about the snub said that it was paid by local taxpayers. Maybe the taxpayers do pay for their leisure time as well, given that it was an invitation by the NZ and Aus governemtns for the Dutch couple to visit. It's possible that the govt covers their entire trip.
 
carlota said:
i'm also quite shocked about what alexander said. it's however true that although it was a state visit, their time in between the visit to australia and the visit to new zeland was private. but i totally agree that he could have been politer. it costs nothing to say 'very well, thanks'.
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Not a state visit, an official visit if you will permit me to say so, carlota :)

State visits are undertaken between Heads of State.

I agree and thought it seemed out of character that Willem snapped the way he did. As you noted, it may have well been a private part of their tour, but there's not much to reciprocating with tact and a simple 'very good, thank you'.
 
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I really dislike the attitude the PoO has towards the media. He behaves like a spoilt child & always seems to regard them as 'the enemy'. I wish he would have a more relaxed & mature attitude in the future, though I do not expect him to change his attitude.

He doesn't get this distaste from a stranger though, his mother once commented that 'lies rule' in the Dutch press. They also try to keep away the camera from things which are tfilmed in other countries, like the wedding reception of the crownprince etc.

Queen Juliana bluntly refused to pose for photographers during a statevisit in Yougoslavia 'they didn't deserve that' was her comment (they were to intruisive during her visit to a local market, she thought), to which her press secretary replied 'don't be so difficult, woman!' (which was captured on video & is rather funny). And during one of her last public appearances, while attending a movie premiere with her grandson Willem-Alexander, Juliana entered the theater while she was covering her face with her purse.
 
Marengo said:
I really dislike the attitude the PoO has towards the media. He behaves like a spoilt child & always seems to regard them as 'the enemy'. I wish he would have a more relaxed & mature attitude in the future, though I do not expect him to change his attitude.

He doesn't get this distaste from a stranger though, his mother once commented that 'lies rule' in the Dutch press. They also try to keep away the camera from things which are tfilmed in other countries, like the wedding reception of the crownprince etc.

Queen Juliana bluntly refused to pose for photographers during a statevisit in Yougoslavia 'they didn't deserve that' was her comment (they were to intruisive during her visit to a local market, she thought), to which her press secretary replied 'don't be so difficult, woman!' (which was captured on video & is rather funny). And during one of her last public appearances, while attending a movie premiere with her grandson Willem-Alexander, Juliana entered the theater while she was covering her face with her purse.
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I wasn't aware of any of this, Marengo. I have only ever seen Willem in a positive light and have never witnessed any PR misgivings until now. I was thinking perhaps it was just an 'off day' for the Prince.

I have always thought the Dutch royals had a 'relatively good' relationship with their media but this is not the case ?
 
01.11.2006 There are new photos of the royal couple on the 2nd day in New Zealand at following website:
http://www.ppe-agency.com/
Maxima is wearing a pink top (her favourite colour?) and white pants. It's a shame that it is not possible to post pics directly to this forum:bang:
 
Well, you always have the option of purchasing copyright and posting the photos wherever you want!

Let's not reduce discussion to the photo posting rules- we all know why they are necessary. Let's make the most of this necessity and instead continue with the royal tour!

Azile
 
In this article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3846280a11,00.html

It says that their three-day visit to the resort (where the PoO snapped at the media) was not part of the tax-payer funded tour.
There is also a picture of them leaving the hotel, and according to the report, Maxima had her hair styled by the hotel hairstylist. Hopefully the stringy left-down hair will be done for the rest of the tour!

Quite rude of the PoO to say something like that, IMO. When you are in another country, it is common curtesy to be polite to the hosts, which are the citizens of the country.
 
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Loved Maximas pink top. Her casuall wear seem to be quit nice. Her evening dress worn to the galadiner at the Government House in New Zealand was cute though im not too sure about the yellowish color at the bottom. She has been looking very radiant lately.

About WA's attitude/response to the radio man, i thought that was a rude attitude from a royal. Wont say more, could have a thread probably about it if it goes on, which wont be very intresting.

Btw, did they take their two daughters along?
 
Wondeful Princess Maxima !!!! thanks for the pins
 
Maxima looks great. Without a doubt it was rude of Alexander...but I can appreciate it somewhat...you work hard..and you think you are going to have a off day and you are being harassed by the press.

Of course...it was much easier to say No thank you or just give a smile.

In response to the comment that Maxima should have said something...who says she didn't say anything to him when they were in their rooms. And why should Maxima be responsible for her husbands behavior. She isn't his mother...he is a grown man and thus responsible for his actions.
 
PoO should have been glad people waited around to see them and ask questions....I think some other princely pairs (e.g.Charles and Camilla) usually hav a hard time generating interest in them :-o Once, a little girl gave Charlie flowers and ran away in terror as he tried to say something to her, poor fellow.
 
Zonk said:
Maxima looks great. Without a doubt it was rude of Alexander...but I can appreciate it somewhat...you work hard..and you think you are going to have a off day and you are being harassed by the press.

Of course...it was much easier to say No thank you or just give a smile.

.
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But was not his response to a local radio reporter asking him if he had enjoyed his already taken 3 day private vacation time in New Zealand ?
It was not a polite response by anyone's standards. There is no defence of that sort of uncivility and as a royal he should take an example of the reigning monarchs to see how sensible they are.
 
Does anyone think maybe he purposely snapped in order to generate publicity? I mean, they havent had much mainstream news coverage have they? I havent seen them on any television news programs (maybe i missed it, i don't know, maybe they make it on the news in the Eastern States, but not here in the West maybe) When the King and Queen of Sweden came, they got television new coverage etc.
 
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