Dutch State Visits to Oman (postponed) and Qatar; March 6th-10th, 2011
 

From 6 to 7 March 2011 the Queen will pay a state visit to Oman. From 9 to 10 March she will pay a state visit to Qatar. On both visits she will be accompanied by the Pricne of Orange and Princess Máxima.


Het Koninklijk Huis

According to RTL the state visit to Oman has been cancelled. A decission about Qatar will be made by the government in the evening. It is the first time a Dutch outgoing state visit was cancelled due to political unrest.

http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuw...-niet-door.xml

Pity as the Omani's are great hosts & it would've been a great visit IMO. I hope Qatar's visit will still be on.

Well, according to the prime minister no decision has been made yet about Oman, so the state visit might continue after all (not very likely though).

The state visit to Oman has been postponed. According to the RVD the present develpments need all the attention, so in that light it is better if the state visit will be paid another time.

Staatsbezoek Beatrix aan Oman uitgesteld - VK Dossier: Onrust in het Midden-Oosten - VK

The one to Qatar will go ahead as planned it seems.

Fan van Máxima » Staatsbezoek aan Oman uitgesteld

Google Vertaling

The State Visit to Qatar goes ahead as planned on march 8th and 10th according to the RVD and the Royal House website.

:qatarflag::dutchstandard::dutchflag:

:omanflag::dutchstandard:
HM Queen Beatrix and TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will travel to Oman after all despite protests in the country.
The Royal party has accepted a personal invitation by HM Sultan Qaboos for a private dinner on tuesday march 8th.This was announced by the Foreign Office this afternoon in a letter by the Minister to Parliament in an explanation on the State Visits to the nations on the Arabian Gulf.Good solution!

Yeah. Thanks lucien. Although I wouldn't want them to go anywhere that might be dangerous. (which could be anywhere really) I have been waiting for a state visit for a while, and the Dutch are always good fun!!!!!

The 'private' dinner is heavily critisized in the media and parlament. Oddly enough even more serious newspapers and programmes just seem to pretend that the Queen woke up one day and decided to go after all. In reality however she can not decide such things at all and it will be the ministers who decided this, mainly driven by economical factors.

I hope there will be NO pictures tonight. I am sure that they will be used by some republicans to portray Beatrix as the stubborn woman with too much power... and that it will be used to promote the Swedish form of monarchy. Now in this issue it seems that the politicians involved are either a) dumb or b) calculating liars, as it very obvious that this decision is the responsibility of the PM, not of the Queen. I suppose it could also be a combination of the two of course.

The royals arrived this afternoon, and apparently it is making headlines:

Queen Beatrix headlines in Oman

The dinner will be in the Bait al Barak palace.

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In the mean time, parlament wants to discuss the issue with the prime minister.

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Pictures:

http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?p...15094802&pos=1

http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?p...15094756&pos=5

http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?p...15094720&pos=6

I suppose the Queen is wearing no hat to emphasize the private nature of the visit ;)

Queen Beatrix arrive at the airport of Muscat in Oman. Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima accompany her. March 08, 2011

BelgaPicture - Category details
http://picture.belga.be/belgapicture...e/2994466.html

Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said meets Queen Beatrix and Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima at the Bait Al Baraka palace in Masqat, Oman. March 08, 2011

PPE Agency

Pictures of the arrival of HM and TRH.Nothing wrong with this visit,the pretentious little people of a certain signature in Parliament apparently have nothing better to do then to ask what they could know if they pay attention better instead of revelling in the pluche.GL and a certain pain called JS have put this on the agenda.Again,it is not HM who decides in this,it is the government and only them.There is far more to this dinner then can be said right now.Really,there isn't mayhem except for some demo's,nothing to worry about and HM delivers to the requests of his people fast.Something "The Hague" might hold as an example to follow suit in many if not most cases!:smile:

As dear HJA put it on his Royalblog;"How can you see HM arrived privately??"...She doesn't wear a hat.And glasses.

ANP Beeldbank

Courtesy Robin Utrecht.

Fan van Máxima » Dinsdag 8 maart 2011: bezoek aan Oman

Google Vertaling

and a few more pictures from the Omani press agency site

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Here's the ppe gallery from day 1:


** ppe gallery - March 8, 2011 **

How is the Swedish form of monarchy? :ermm:

They have arrived in Qatar:

Fan van Máxima » 9 maart 2011: Dag 1 van staatsbezoek aan Qatar

Google Vertaling

Queen Beatrix at the Amiri Diwan in Doha welcomed by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar. March 09, 2011

BelgaPicture - Category details

Princess Maxima and Prince Willem-Alexander and Queen Beatrix arrive for a 2 day statevisit to Qatar.

PPE Agency