- The Dutch government has been criticized by parliament over its handling of the princess Margarita scandal. The princess accuses Queen Beatrix of ordering her husband to be investigated by the intelligence service. The government until recently denied that there had been such an investigation. But a series of new revelations has left Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende with egg on his face.
What started off as a royal family quarrel has developed into a full-blown political crisis. The scandal broke last month following damning accusations from the Queen's niece, Princess Margarita. In a series of magazine articles, the princess accused the royal family of systematically trying to undermine her marriage to Edwin de Roy van Zuydewijn. The couple said their phones calls had been tapped, their mail opened, and a company set up by Mr de Roy van Zuydewijn deliberately undermined.
Following dismissive statements from both the government and the royal family, the princess stepped up her allegations, appearing on television to accuse Queen Beatrix of "abuse of power", and claim she and her husband had been bugged and investigated by security agents. "The queen must apologise to us publicly," Roy van Zuydewijn told the German magazine Stern: "We will not be satisfied with less."
Queen requested inquiry
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende first tried to play down the matter, but had to acknowledge only a few days later that the security service had indeed investigated Edwin de Roy van Zuydewijn "on matters relating to his integrity". The surveillance, he added, was carried out at the request of the queen's office and the ministers concerned had not been warned. Mr Balkenende has since withdrawn the queen's power to request this kind of enquiry without prior agreement with the prime minister.
The justice and interior ministers apologised to Princess Margarita last week, admitting that their respective ministries had initially denied the existence of the investigation. Parliament tasted blood and called for a special debate about "Margarita-gate".
The scandal is embarrassing and damaging to both the government and the royal family, says royalty watcher Jan Kikkert.
"It's the role the government failed not play. This is a highly complex legal matter and when even the Prime Minister found them hard to understand fully, how can you expect the public to understand? So, the general public is responding to the trifles of the whole affair: they see the prime minister first deny that the princess and her husband have ever been bugged and then offer his apologies for the incident two days later. The only thing the man in the street picks up from this whole business is that there has been a letter of excuse, which means you're guilty.".....
royalty watcher Jan Kikkert interviewed by Newsline´s Perro de Jong, 2´57
Weak performance
Under the Dutch system, the prime minister bears political responsibility for the actions of the sovereign. But the government at the time didn't know about the investigation into the princess. Clearly, Mr Balkenende had some explaining to do on Wednesday. His weak performance in the debate may have dented his prestige, says Mr Kikkert.
"Both the Dutch Prime Minister and the Royal Family are damaged by this affair. First of all, Mr Balkenende didn't know the legal implications and the Justice Minister had to give him clues. This was a very weak performance and at a certain moment the speaker of Parliament intervened and suggested it would be better if the Justice Minister take over and give the answers himself. "
Damaged they may be, both Prime Minister Balkenende and the Dutch monarchy are expected to weather the storm.
"As yet, there's no surge of republican feeling and the monarchy is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the Dutch population."
Article From: Radio Netherlands