5 May 2006
AMSTERDAM — The media can threaten democracy, Princess Mabel said during a speech on Friday to mark Liberation Day.
"Much of the mass media is driven by circulation and viewing figures, and not by unrestrained critical analysis, truth-finding or simply the provision of quality. Creating an image supersedes content," she told the audience as she gave the H. M. van Randwijk reading in the south-western city of Vlissingen.
"Much of the mass media is driven by circulation and viewing figures, and not by unrestrained critical analysis, truth-finding or simply the provision of quality. Creating an image supersedes content," she told the audience as she gave the H. M. van Randwijk reading in the south-western city of Vlissingen.
If that is what she said, I'll say: 'Bravo Mabel! You go girl', because it's exactly what I say all the time. Mass media has gone crazy these days!
Although the Princess has some points about the dangers of mass-media, I think she should be one of the last people lecturing the press about truths and lies!
Although the Princess has some points about the dangers of mass-media, I think she should be one of the last people lecturing the press about truths and lies!
Hmmm, I didn't even think of it that way. You definitely got a point there, Marengo!
The most I read about Friso and Mabel, the most I find this couple interesting. They've acted in a very bad way after their engagement but they look nice to me today. Mabel's job is all I'd like to do as a work.
Prince Friso gave an interview to NRC-Handelsblad this saturday. Poter Joris on the Benelux Royals MB was kind enough to take the time and trouble to translate most of it:
The interview is by Jutta Chorus, freelance journalist for NRC Handelsblad. The photographer Vincent Mentzel (one of the best press photographers we have. We all remember his wonderful portrait of Prince Claus). It consists of 8 pages. And carries 7 photos, including the one on the cover of M, which is NRC Handelsblad's monthly colour magazine. Issue: May 2005, p. 34-41. The reason why Friso agreed to this first proper interview is apparently Prince Claus who said that he should give one once "for they do not know you." (want ze kennen je niet) Good reason, imo! It's too much work to translate the densily printed pages so I give some highlights/main remarks. Not in the particular order they were given. With the risk that I take them out of their original context but that other readers should could correct if they see interpretation on my part: - Friso and Mabel live in Notting Hill, West London, near River Thames, in a 18th C. old house (basement was being repaired: the floor was under water.) Friso moved it in 1998 when he started working an "Associate" at Goldman Sachs. The house is his home and his office. The rooms are modest in size. It's near River Thames. - He is generally called "Friso Vanorange" by the people he works with/meets: industry experts, bankers, business managers. Don't always know that he is a prince, something which is non-essential. Being prince can have advantages but as he is working in a profit- making business he can be thrown out just as easily as non-princes although having access and opening doors could be an advantage. The only letters starting with "Your Royal Highness" are originating from the Netherlands. - Two days a week he works as a co-director of TNO Space in Delft, Netherlands. Technical instruments, developed by TNO are brought under the attention of firms that work for aerospatial programmes (f.i. parts of satellites). Friso is a kind of broker/intermediate in this process. - According to his co-director Gerard Blaauw Friso is good at "sharp substantial analyses", is an economical expert and by socializing easy with people he achieves that people can come into contact with eacother. - Mabel is a director European Affairs of the London branch of George Soros''s Open Society Institute, at London Hammersmith. - Countess Luana is a pupil of the nearby Notting Hill primary school, just in case they decide to remain in London. Friso: "London is a fantastic city to live in". "Professionally London offers more possibilities to us than the Netherlands". "We are hardly recognized here, except by Dutch tourists at Harrods or at museums." "We feel free." - London should not be seen as their self-imposed place exile. But the affair with Balkenende certainly didn't help them to keep them in the Netherlands, according to a friend of Friso's Barbara Martens (former McKinsey colleague). - To give an interview once is an idea which Prince Claus suggested 10 years ago: "So that people get to know who you are. They do not know you." - Interior scenes: a bronze statue made by Beatrix of him as a tiny todd... Laying his head on the floor at the age of one. His mother told him that he often felt that his head was too heavy for him and put it on the floor... - I see a Jeroen Henneman of Mabel on the chimney. - At the other side of the chimney: a bronze statue: a large woman with a straight back and a coat blowing in the wind: Queen Beatrix made by her sculpting teacher. - On the wall at his study an etching by Marte Roling of Prince Claus (joris: a fantastic portrait]. - In the staircase: a photo of Claus with his sons in swimming vests... - About his youth: - Friso is aware of the phenomenon "reverse engineering" (you analyse how a product is made and try to copy it and reproduce it: like the Japanes are good at). About his youth: he could have transformed his memory so that the result could be that his youth had been a happy one. " It was fantastic over there [i.e. at Drakesteyn]. There in the woods, family life, gaiety. Do I find it beautiful because it was a happy youth or because it was beautiful there?" - About the unusual character of his youth, being the son of a queen-to-be. - "My parents did their best to give us a normal youth. We were just pupils at the primary school in Lage Vuursche. I played golf, Alexander hockey and Constantijn football. We played with other children and fought our fights at the schoolyard and my mother organised children's parties, not "outsourcing" them. She cut the cake herself. On Sundays we often walked to my grandparents at Soestdijk [Joris: through the woods between Drakesteyn and Soestdijk Palace that is]. It was fun overthere although my grandfather didn't have much patience with small children." - They were just normal kids never having holidays outside the normal schoolholidays (some other kids did have!). "Perhaps we were more Roman than the Pope": no television. Playing chess at the Baarn chessclub. At college he joined his parents for the first time to the Dutch Antilles (official visit). - They had nannies but parents tried to be around as much as possible and they tried to work from their home. Of course official visits and cutting ribbons you can't do at home. "But when they were at home, they were there for us." "It was a warm place at home. There were little rules of course. "Don't sit with your elbows on the table."" "Today such an upbringing would be called severe." - Not normal: there was always a security officer around. - He cannot remember many official events in his youth (a.o. Groene Daeck captain's sailing, Queen's Day at Soestdijk, a regiment paying tribute to Alexander on his birthday). "People remember me largely being part of this family on the terrace of Soestdijk but it was only a tiny element in my life as a whole." "The perception of life is not dictated by a few events per year." - "A normal primary school, a normal college, a normal university. My parents' vision was: with the exception of the oldest child the rest should be able to lead a normal life later. In that case we should not make all kinds of exceptions." - From the age of 10 Friso realised Willem-Alexander would be king and not he. "I never thought: I would like to have that job." "It was a given fact." "He has always been aware of the task which is awaiting him." "Also his [Alexander's] youth has been reasonably normal [though]" - His relation with his brothers: "independent"" and "good". "We did a lot in common but we also had friends of our own and our own lives."
- Like his father had, he suffered from asthma in his youth. Ventoline and lomudal inhalers were always around. It does not longer bother him. "I could neither play football nor hockey because at the time the idea was that that wasn't good for asthma patients." "I was the only one who didn't play a teamsport, but that's why I had lots of time to play golf, to do carpenting and play chess."
- "As of my 10th I felt Kingship and Moving [to the Hague] come near. And then all of a sudden my mother had a very heavy job. My parents got more and more duties but they still tried their best to be there for us."" - About Beatrix: - "The way in which my mother has given contents to her task has been of influence on my own life. She works hard, has an eye for detail and is a perfectionist. In this regard she is an example to me. Into each detail she prepares her work and visits, even this very day!" - "I sometimes tell her: You don't need to know everything better than your host. (She never wants to ask a stupid question) "Ask a question which could give the people the opportunity to present themselves as intelligent". "People appreciate when you can explain something to the queen for a change." (more about his mother's perfect memory with regard to facts and persons names etc.) - Once a week average he stays at his mother's at Huis ten Bosch Palace. "Then we eat together, have a glass of wine and discuss things which are actual then: health care, the economy or her grandchildren." - About Claus: - "My father has certainly been an example to me and I think I learned a lot from him. I admired him for the way in which he socialized with people. He taught us to think critically. Together with my mother he provided us with the space to discover ourselves and to make our own choices. He liked it very much that I went to Delft, probably because he would have wished to study mechanical engineering himself once." - "We were completely free in our choice of study. The academy of art would also have been okay. My father might have found that nicer but he never showed me anything hereof." - "When I started working at Goldman Sachs in 1998 my parents hardly knew what an 'investment bank' was." "[Claus] asked around what kind of firm Goldman Sachs was"[at KPN of which he was a commissioner] - About Claus's manic depression: - "It was difficult for me to understand what caused those complaints." "I have always considered it to be a disease, not a reaction to his course of life." - "I talked about it with others sometimes, but not with him." "You do not talk to a person who is ill about his illness all the time. Moreover, I tried to divert his mind." - About his studies (mechanical engineering): - A 9 [out of 10] level for arithmetrics, 8 for physics. He had dropped Latin as a subject. "I am not that good in languages. I liked the logic of Latin though. I saw it as a puzzle, more so than literature." - About his study at Berkeley University he said it was a great time, got many friends there, twice a year he travelled home, called his parents each week: "collect call" - "It was fascinating to live in America and to experience how many differences there are between Americans and Europeans." - Started and finished studying aeronautics and aerospace science in Delft and business administration in Rotterdam. - "The studies and students life cost a lot of time but each Sunday I had dinner with my parents or my brothers. That's was very nice because we experienced so many things." - 1994: Long Beach, working on his thesis for McDonnell Douglas. - For the first time without 24-hours long security officer at his side. "That was a new experience" "If you are sitting next to a girl, he is sitting next to you too, reading De telegraaf having a Spa mineralwater." The risk of getting recognized because of this is bigger. - "In Long Beach I got the freedom to just have a cup of coffee somewhere. I did no longer have to plan everything a long time in advance. I could have a more relaxed life." (Photo of Friso & Mabel at Starbucks in London... ) - 1995: fellow-consultant at McKinsey Amsterdam. - Very hard work. You want to go to bed and then there is a telephone call saying you have to visit a customer on location. Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.
Collecting data > having interviews > surveys > analysing > strategic plans.
Fitness helped to relax in the meantime and have dinner late at night... "Work hard, play hard" he called it. - 1997: Insead, Fontainebleau, France. Goldman Sachs, London. - A long story about his views about opening national borders to economical travellers. About flexible working contracts. About the differences between American and Dutch working situation. (f.i. Americans create working places, the Dutch get places at firms already there for the greater part. There is more active enterprise in the USA.) - Friso's heart lies in the Netherlands. Co-protector of Prince Claus Fund, The Dutch Windmill Society. - He likes to talk with Maxima about microcredit and social enterpreneurship. Should microcredit be a business activity or charity for instance. He likes the fact Maxima made the issue more known. - 1998: Friso founded the MRI Centre, specialised in producing MRI scans. He keeps analysing his own firm with regard to its being a economically healthy firm. Are profit and costs in balance. Could we sell the centre with profit later. - "My father liked discussing with me about the MRI Centre." "Then he himself had to have a MRI scan made. He dropped by then. He loved the idea. I haven't been able to hear the result." (medical secret) "I did no longer ask my father about it." - Shareholder at Wizz Air (Polish-Hungarian cheap flight aircompany). A friend: "He doesn't search for status. His drive is about contents." "He doesn''t need toi be confirmed all day long." ___ I stop here and would like to ask somebody else to give a summary about what was being said about his relation with Mabel and Mabelgate...
It's really too much work for me and it demands a lot of attention to post what I want. So I give the honour to someone else who has read the interview (the last two pages). - One thing which moved me about all this: "He missed his father enormously during that crisis"", according to Huub Oosterhuis. - So far Friso Vanorange.
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One of the reasons I believe that the Dutch collectively embraced Maxima on the day of her engagement to Alexander, is because she was clever and realistic enough to realize she had to address this very matter of her father's past.
And she did, on the day of the engament, when she famously distanced herself from the Videla regime and anything to do with that.
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If, as Mette Marit had done, Mabel had tearfully acknowledged she had had a friendship with this guy when she was a young and naive student, I am convinced people would be far more lenient with her than they are today. She brought her reputation really onto herself.
I do not know the full story of Mabel's past, so bear with me. But is it really fair to compare Mabel's situation with Mette Marit and Maxim? Wasn't it 100% known that Maxim's father was part of a bloody regime (what was unknown was his extent of involevent). Also, wasn't it 100% known that Mette Marit did indeed have a baby for a drug user/seller. Isn't it true that she didn't really tell the public what she did, but that she did some things in the past that she regrets. So, how can any of these two ladies deny these relationships (although I don't see why Maxim has to suffer for her father's sins)? On the other hand, isn't there a possibility 9although small) that Mabel is telling the truth and that she really didn't have a sexual relationship with this man? Or is the fact that she lied about any involvement with him enough to condemn her?
On the other hand, isn't there a possibility 9although small) that Mabel is telling the truth and that she really didn't have a sexual relationship with this man? Or is the fact that she lied about any involvement with him enough to condemn her?
I'm not Dutch so perhaps that makes a difference, but I do like Mabel. From the few interviews I've read or seen about Mabel's social causes, particularly her work with AIDS and her lobbying for more attention and funding, I find her to be a very intelligent woman who is fighting for something real and who is doing something good for the greater world.
My feeling is that such good work by Mabel is overshadowed by the scandal of "Mabelgate." I think for many people the fact that she lied about any association with a known criminal is a sign that she might possibly or could possibly lie about other things in the future, which makes her untrustworthy. I think that if she had just confessed to having been an acquaintance of the man rather than try to hide that fact, little more attention would've been paid to the matter. (Certainly it would be less of an issue several years later and with a second baby on the way.)
Consider how little the past actions of Maxima's father matters these days. He didn't attend his daughter's wedding but he attended both of his granddaughter's baptisms in the Netherlands and even posed for pictures with the Queen. Had Maxima tried to defend her father or justify his actions, her father's presence may not be welcome at such family events.
My feeling is that such good work by Mabel is overshadowed by the scandal of "Mabelgate." I think for many people the fact that she lied about any association with a known criminal is a sign that she might possibly or could possibly lie about other things in the future, which makes her untrustworthy. I think that if she had just confessed to having been an acquaintance of the man rather than try to hide that fact, little more attention would've been paid to the matter. (Certainly it would be less of an issue several years later and with a second baby on the way.)
I think that is exactly the problem with Mabel over here in the Netherlands, Alexandria. You expressed it quite well. I mean, everyone makes mistakes, but lying about them is just not the smartest thing to be done in this case, because (as you say) one get's a feeling there is more.
Don't get me wrong, btw. I like Mabel for the good work she does and I think she's very intelligent, but as a person I think she made quite some mistakes around 'Mabelgate' and that made her look like a good old gold digger, even if she isn't. :(
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