Gossip Magazine Corrects Rumours About Willem-Alexander’s Skating Tour

Dutch gossip magazine ‘Privé’ has to correct their article of last week in which they said that the prince did not skate the complete eleven city skating tour in 1986. Their source was a republican from Drachten, Mr. Lutzen Haak who was annoyed by the ‘hero status’ that the prince got from the tour.

However, the two security men who skated the tour with the prince, Anne Folkertsma and Jantinus van der Kuijl, told their story to the Leeuwarder Courant. They were skating with the prince for the complete tour, almost 200 kilometers. Also police man Vonck, who followed the prince (by car) all day says the story of the frustrated republican in nonsense.

The editor of the magazine, Evert Santegoeds, says that he does not know how the article appeared in his magazine and claims that he did not before the magazine appeared in the shops. This week ‘Privé’ corrects their mistake by publishing an interview with the two security men in their magazine, which was announced on the cover.

The elfstedentocht (eleven cities skating tour) is the world’s largest and longest speed skating competition and leisure skating tour, is held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. The tour, almost 200km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven historic Frisian cities like Leeuwarden, Sneek, Hindeloopen and Franeker. The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Media, Sport.