Willem-Alexander, Máxima and Family, General News Part 2 (May 2013 - May 2017)


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Marengo said:
I don't think the date and location has been released yet, but it will probably be soon. The summer holidays in the middle area of the country start this weekend.

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The king was spotted in a KLM airplane from London to Amsterdam on friday:
Koning reist tussen het volk | Binnenland | Telegraaf.nl

So the king doesn't always use the government airplane. The RVD did ot want to comment on the purpose of the visit to London.
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Most likely it was a private visit. Im surprised the King doesn't always use government planes. Since they don't want to comment on the visit then using a private plane would've been the best thing since the visit wouldn't be questioned because it wouldn't of been known about.
 
Queen M does this very often. Every now and then someone tells the papers. A friend of mine was in the same plane a year ago. Heading towards New York. And no, he told us friends but not the papers. ;-)
 
IIRC there was some hullaboo about the costs of using the government plane a few years ago, so since this is reducing costs most will think this is a good thing, esp. for private visits.
 
According to Billet Bladet, the king and queen will pay a state visit to Denmark between March 16-18 2015. The Danish court did not confirm the dae, though they say that they are debating the issue.

Royalty Online

The last Dutch state visit to Denmark dates from 1984, when Queen Beatrix visited Copenhagen. The last state visit from Denmark to The Netherlands dates from 1975.
 
@Mo_Holland Summer Photo call with King and Queen of Netherlands and their children cancelled due to crash of #MH17 154 dutch citizens murdered
 
lucien said:
Good!A boost for the economy!!:flowers:
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I can predict the diarrhea coming down in the online media and social forums... I am amazed that such a little boat comes with that prize tag and that the King was willing to spend that amount. It is almost an open invitation to anyone to tackle the King and his eh... jet-set lifestyle. There was already grumble that the State had to spend around the same amount for a pied-à-terre for Princess Beatrix. So to see the King or the Princess could gave paid for their own pied-à-terre. I wonder what their priorities are.

:sad:
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
I can predict the diarrhea coming down in the online media and social forums... I am amazed that such a little boat comes with that prize tag and that the King was willing to spend that amount. It is almost an open invitation to anyone to tackle the King and his eh... jet-set lifestyle. There was already grumble that the State had to spend around the same amount for a pied-à-terre for Princess Beatrix. So to see the King or the Princess could gave paid for their own pied-à-terre. I wonder what their priorities are.

:sad:
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Oh really?This is not a priority case.At all.it's a man buying a boat because he can and most will say ;"Oh that's ok!" anyway.Good for him.oh,and the shrapnell fired by "online media and social fora"..?...The social fora are not that social but more a-social,and online media live by the crap of the day.And,most Dutch couldn't care less as halve of them is hollydaying all over the globe,because they can...and the other halve is preparing their umptiest BBQ as it's beautifull weather here and all are in good spirits..So,they certainly do have other and more important priorities,yes!...Just my 5 cents worth....
 
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800.000,-- Euro (appr. 1,075,000.-- USD) is an awfully lot of money. When the King would spend it on a diamond parure, to say something, then it has a function for the "execution of the kingship". When the King would spend it on real estate or artworks, then it can also be classified as a "smart investment". But this... for some weeks in the summer, this is soooo flashy, so jet-set. Of course it is the King's own money (I assume) but when the story is true, I am not so sure of this was the smartest thing to do.

In a month the Dutch Government will announce new cuts in the Budget 2015. This will be announced by His Majesty, just back from his speedboat adventures in the Greek seas, seated on his throne, announcing the cuts with a serious face.... Not the most lucky perception, I am afraid. Of course it can be woven away as "it is nothing" but perception and imago is everything in this media era.

:ermm:
 
I believe he donated the sailing boat (a regenboog, the absolute best in these small sail boats) that he received for his wedding to a school, which must be a pity as sailing is much more fun, relaxing, healthy, sustainable, 'green' etc. than a diesel slurping over-priced speedboat IMHO. Like with flashy cars, these kind of boats usually make you wonder if the owner needs to make up for something.

He did buy it at a Dutch company, so that is good. But it just seems 'poenerig'. Not the best to be showy in these times, esp. since he and his wife were critisized not too long ago for their jetset lifestyle. Of course in the end it is his money, and he is free to do with it whatever he wants. But I wouldn't be surprised if the call to lower his income will become louder due to such flashy purchases. Several MP's already suggested his salary should be on par with the Balkenende-norm.

NB. the info originates at the magazine 'quote'. I am not sure if it is actually correct. It can also be a trick by some marketing people to get attention for the company.
 
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The source remains unclear. The media indeed seems to bring the news as an assumption, not as a fact. Quote is not the most reliable source, to use an understatement. If it is not true, I advise the Royal House to come with a denial, to prevent the story getting a whole own life.
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
The source remains unclear. The media indeed seems to bring the news as an assumption, not as a fact. Quote is not the most reliable source, to use an understatement. If it is not true, I advise the Royal House to come with a denial, to prevent the story getting a whole own life.
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No ofcourse not!If the RH had to send denials into the web on every flimsy little nada,there would be no end to the bull over nothing.No,the RH will never respond to a hype "or social media"..as some call it......:lol:....invention of any sort and thus providing the "ïnventor" with free publicity at HM expenses.No.

As suspected MOST Dutch,67%,agrees with HM newest purchase...according to RTL4,all they say is ship ahoy...
 
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A denial is enough: "The news brought by Quote Magazine is not based on facts."
End of the discussion which engulfs social media and the online comments. Sometimes simply being proactive is better than let it all derail.
 
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Interesting, the King and Queen buys a family villa in Greece. A lot of fuss about that, also about building an "illegal" (but approved by the authorities) concrete pier for boats and fuss about the costs of the protection of the family during the vacation.

Then the news that he has bought an awesomely expensive speedboat for use in Greece (still not sure if that is true) and now all of a sudden they are holidaying in Peru...
 
I believe that they were in Greece in July. The government airplane was flying up and down a few times during the week after the MH17 attack. But it seems that they have moved on after a few weeks. Maybe they will return to Greece afterwards, the first official event in the calander is on August 30th. They usually disappear for 1 1/2 months in summer.

According to thye article 19 people came along, so apart from the bodyguards I suppose they may be joined by family / friends of the Queen.
 
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rchainho said:
new boat for 80.000€?
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add another 0 :flowers:

Opinion in the NL seem to be divided in:
- so what, he's loaded with money, he works for it, so if he wants a boat, he should buy it
- again the money-loaded royal family doesn't seem to know what to do with it and after a couple of holidays abroad and holiday houses now a boat seems quite fitting for these people
- don't care what they do, as long as it's not the taxpayer's money

Big majority for the third opinion, as far as i can tell :lol:
 
Lee-Z said:
add another 0 :flowers:

Opinion in the NL seem to be divided in:
- so what, he's loaded with money, he works for it, so if he wants a boat, he should buy it
- again the money-loaded royal family doesn't seem to know what to do with it and after a couple of holidays abroad and holiday houses now a boat seems quite fitting for these people
- don't care what they do, as long as it's not the taxpayer's money

Big majority for the third opinion, as far as i can tell :lol:
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Didn't WA just recently say that the fat days are over in the Netherlands and the economy being in crisis.
Of course, buying such a boat is good for the economy :p
 
Well there was a crisis indeed but incomparable with Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. In the Netherlands the economy is recovering again, hopefully the crisis in Ukraine (boycots) will not cause a fallback.

The only real 'criticism' seemed the costly refurbishment of Noordeinde 66, the mansion next to Noordeinde Palace, as a pied-à-terre for Princess Beatrix. The criticism was that the -then- Prince of Orange bought the house as a bargain from his grandmother Queen Juliana. He sold it with huge profits to the State. (To be complete: he paid for a very extensive restoration and modernization). Now that mansion apparently needs a whole renovation again. That was the non-understanding and criticism: "Why can Princess Beatrix not buy her own pied-à-terre or Why can't she simply have an appartment inside neighbouring Noordeinde Palace?".

But that criticism has already faded away now. Anyway, I think being careful with too "flashy" or too "jetset"-like expensive purchases is a good advice. The Prince spending the same amount on -for an example- enlarging the royal domain De Horsten, or on re-purchasing an old painting for the royal collection, will have raised less criticism than that unbelievable amount for a little boat during his holidays neighbouring Putin's villa in Greece...

Picture: Princess Beatrix' pied-à-terre in scaffoldings: http://haagspraak.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/20131203_31471.jpg
 
The one thing that *has* caused criticism (and still is brought up again repeatedly) is the fact that K.W-A and Q.Maxima were seen fraternizing with Mr. Putin at the Sotchi olympics...
 
I think that's a little unfair criticism. I am not in any way defending Mr. Putin, but it should be remembered that he is the head of state of the host nation, and to completely avoid or snub him would have been considered unwise. Remember at that time, the Ukranian crisis had not yet started. I doubt that the King & Queen had the clairvoyancy to know what would happen in the future and think "oh...we shouldn't be seen with him because of what his country is about to do." Again, unfair criticism IMO.
 
The meeting with Mr Putin was also not at all scheduled. He made an unexpected visit to the Holland House, the central location for all Dutch sporters and felt immediately into a party after a medal victory ceremony. The King and Queen greeted Mr Putin and the staff of the Holland House offered a drink. That was it.

Putin and the royal couple: https://www.nieuws.nl/media/yb2pmg26oay4npv0thu6kustu
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
The meeting with Mr Putin was also not at all scheduled. He made an unexpected visit to the Holland House, the central location for all Dutch sporters and felt immediately into a party after a medal victory ceremony. The King and Queen greeted Mr Putin and the staff of the Holland House offered a drink. That was it.

Putin and the royal couple: https://www.nieuws.nl/media/yb2pmg26oay4npv0thu6kustu
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That's exactly my point. It's not like they sought him out and said hey let's pose for pictures and go paint the town together.,as the Dutch head of state it would have been rude to leave immediately when he arrived. It's just like a holiday meal with your family, sometimes you have to grin a bear it for the sake of diplomacy even if you can't stand everyone who shows up.


Sent from my iPad using The Royals Community mobile app
 
Parrothead said:
I think that's a little unfair criticism. I am not in any way defending Mr. Putin, but it should be remembered that he is the head of state of the host nation, and to completely avoid or snub him would have been considered unwise. Remember at that time, the Ukranian crisis had not yet started. I doubt that the King & Queen had the clairvoyancy to know what would happen in the future and think "oh...we shouldn't be seen with him because of what his country is about to do." Again, unfair criticism IMO.
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The meeting was already criticized at that time and had nothing to do with the current Ukraine-situation; it was more to do with the fact that some think that the king puts more effort in socializing (with a little drinky) and being in the audience at sports-events than in other activities (bit of a backlash of his "Prince Pils" years)

I posted it just to clarify that the yacht-buy is not a topic in the NL..and to give an example of what *is* discussed
 
Heu... the speedboat (no yacht) is really a hot topic. Plenty of social forums which deliver a diarrhea of critics on the King and his family... I can direct you to lots of Dutch-language forums but I don't know if you want to read them. The level of participation is quite depressing and rude.
 
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