Last night Queen Beatrix attended the opening of the annual Holland Dance festival at the Lucent Dance Theater in The Hague. The queen was accompanied by the prince of Orange, princess Máxima, prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien. Princess Máxima wore the grey Natan dress that she first wore during Prinsjesdag in 2004 while princess Laurentien looked smashing in a green creation.
Click on image to see photo at PPE
Click on image to see photo at PPE
It is widely known that queen Beatrix is fond of any form of dance, as is her sister Margriet. The younger generation as also hooked, the daughters of the crown prince attend ballet classes and recently princess Máxima took her daughters to a (private) rehearsal of the National ballet in Amsterdam.
During the festival, the 50th annversairy of the Holland Dans Theater will be celebrated. During this 12th edition of the dance festival over 70 performances and 100 workshops will be given. The festival will end on November 15th with a parade of 1200 amateur dancers.
More information about the festival can be found here.
Marengo Dutch Royals Prince Constantijn, Prince of Orange, Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Laurentien, Princess Máxima, Queen Beatrix, Royal Ballet
Click on image to see hpoto at haagsallerlei.nl
Princesses Máxima and Laurentien of The Netherlands had several public engagements during the last two days. On Tuesday night princess Máxima visited the new Culturalis Theater in the Schilderswijk in The Hague.
The Culturalis is an amateur theater for young people. The princess arrived at the theater on the Hobbema street at 8PM and left two hours later. She opened the theater by hitting on an Indonesian gong. For the occassion the princess wore a pink dress from Natan that she recently also wore during her visit to New York.
Yesterday princess Máxima visited two projects of the Orange Fund. She visited the foundation Ster and the foundation Two Get There. both of them are active to help vulnerabe children in The Netherlands. Ster organises holidays for insecure children from 8 to 13. Two Get There stimulatues langiage development of children. Both foundations are supported by the Orange Fund, of which princess Máxima is the patron.
Click on image to see photo at PPE
While Máxima visited these projects, princess Laurentien was in Rotterdam to launch her childrens book ‘Mr Finney en de wereld op zijn kop‘ (Mr. Finney and the world upside down). The book has been illustrated by Sieb Posthuma and together they presented the book to the press. The princess was accompanied by her husband, prince Constantijn. Princess Irene of The Netherlands, sister of queen Beatrix, also attended the presentation.
More about the book at: www.mrfinney.nl
Marengo Dutch Royals Prince Constantijn, Princess Irene of the Netherlands, Princess Laurentien, Princess Máxima, The Orange Fund
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Yesterday, Princess Laurentien travelled to Rotterdam to attend the Society to Benefit General Education’s 225th anniversary celebration. The event took place at Rotterdam’s National Museum, where the Princess was presented with the first copy of the Society’s jubilee book.
Laurentien toured the museum and viewed the exhibition celebrating the Society’s 225 years. The exhibition features original 19th century prints showing the Society’s work.
For over two centuries, the Society to Benefit General Education has worked to give education to children, train teachers, fund libraries and create savings in banks to be used for the Society in future.
More information on Laurentien’s attendance at the celebration can be found here.
JessRulz Dutch Royals Education, Exhibition, Princess Laurentien
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Earlier tonight, Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien attended the Dutch premiere of The Reader, starring Kate Winslett, in Breda.
The film was the opening film of the Breda International Film Festival. The film is based on the book by Bernhard Schlink.
According to the RVD’s press release, the film in conjunction with the Breda International Film Festival has formed a partnership with the Stichting Lezen & Schrijven (Reading and Writing Foundation), of which Princess Laurentien is chairwoman.
More information can be found here.
JessRulz Dutch Royals Premiere, Prince Constantijn, Princess Laurentien
The Dutch royal website says that princess Laurentien of The Netherlands has accepted the offer from director general Koïchiro Matsuura of UNESCO to become a special envoy for global literacy. Today princess Laurentien was at the UNESCO headquaters in Paris to discuss the position with Matsuura. The responsible Dutch UNESCO minister minister dr. R.H.A. Plasterk (Education, Culture and Science) supports the envoyship of the princess. Laurentien’s official title will be: UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development.
Click on image to see photo at www.royaljewels.nl
Princess Laurentien will be active in fighting illiteracy and ‘low’ literacy on a global scale. She will ask for a broad plan of action for the matter: to prevent it with children and to help low/illiterate adults improving their reading and writing skills. The princess has been asked for this position because of her long and passionate involvement in the fight against illiteracy, both national and international. Among other things, princess Laurentien founded the organisation ‘Reading & Writing’ which attracted a lot of attention for the matter in The Netherlands.
Marengo Dutch Royals Princess Laurentien, UNESCO
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Saturday March 21st was Queen Beatrix’s day to step out and participate in Make A Difference Day. The Queen spent the day at the Kubes Foundation in Zeist, where she helped visually impaired people to create art. Queen Beatrix made sculptures with the members of the Foundation.
And the people at the Kico Foundation in Scheerwolde got a surprise when Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien turned up to do their MADD volunteering, with birthday boy Count Claus-Casimir in tow! At the Kico Foundation, the royal trio spent time with children of special backgrounds.
Various members of the royal family came out yesterday for MADD day, read about that here.
The Make A Difference Day thread at TRF can be found here.
JessRulz Dutch Royals Count Claus-Casimir, Make A Difference Day, Prince Constantijn, Princess Laurentien, Queen Beatrix
Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, together with illustrator and author of children’s books Sieb Posthuma, is writing a book called Mr. Finney reports GPD Papers’ royalblog. The book will be published in October by a cooperation of the publishers Querido/Nijgh/Athenaeum.
Click on image to see photo at www.royaljewels.nl
According to Querido the intention is to publish a collection of children’s books. Mr. Finney is an idea of the princess herself and is meant for children from the age of four to eight. The authors will try to convey non moralising questions to children about how we use the planet. In 2004 Princess Laurentien founded the foundation ‘Lezen & Schrijven’ (Reading & Writing) and she has been dedicating herself to the causes of reading and fighting illiteracy even before her marriage to Prince Constantijn.
Read more about princess Laurentien and her activities for ‘Reading and Writing’ in this TRF thread.
Marengo Dutch Royals Books, Children, Education, Princess Laurentien
Click the image to see more at PPE
As patron for literacy, Princess Laurentien yesterday attended the launch of a new starters package called “It Begins with Reading”, to promote the importance of reading in children even from an early age.
The package is aimed at daycare centre employees, to teach them the benefits of childhood reading and to encourage it amongst their pupils and parents. It also aims to reduce the stigma of illiteracy amongst parents, and encourages them to not be ashamed and learn with their children.
Laurentien has been fighting illiteracy since she became a Princess in 2001.
JessRulz Dutch Royals Children, Education, Patronage, Princess Laurentien
This morning princess Laurentien of The Netherlands visited the city of Tilburg to open the exposition LeeS (ReaD). The exposition has been organised by the Scryption, a museum for written communication.
Click on image to see photo at www.anp-photo.nl
Princess Laurentien was dressed in a blue dress, vest and necklaces, combined with large grey suede boots.
After the princess helped the six year old Lola ordening her hair, the girl who is the daughter of the director of the museum, read from a book to the princess. Afterwards the princess visited te interactive exposition about learning how to read. The exposition will be opened until 24 January 2010.
Marengo Dutch Royals Patronage, Princess Laurentien
Click the photo to see more from the Dutch Royal Website
Today, the main members of the Dutch royal family participated in their annual photo session in the exclusive Austrian ski resort of Lech am Arlberg, in Vorarlberg. Queen Beatrix was joined by her eldest and youngest sons, Princes Willem-Alexander and Prince Constantijn; along with their respective wives – Princesses Máxima and Laurentien – and their gaggle of adorable children for the winter holiday.
4-year-old Count Claus-Casimir was outnumbered amongst his siblings and cousins – the youngster has two sisters and five female first cousins (two of which were not present)!, but spent some quality time with Dad. Queen Beatrix was ever the doting “Oma” and clearly enjoyed the time with her grandchildren. This year, according to Dutch newspaper ‘De Telegraaf‘, is the fiftieth year the Dutch royals have spent holidaying in Lech.
JessRulz Dutch Royals Photo Session, Prince Constantijn, Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Laurentien, Princess Máxima, Queen Beatrix
