King Willem-Alexander's 50th Birthday: April 27, 2017

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

The most remarkable is that all other Royal Houses have been silent as well. No leaks, which is an achievement these days...

like he gagged the press, WA will be merciless in case of any leaks: no invitation for the next party! even though the greek royals like MC who are so fond of their instagram couldn't stop posting WA will certainly have no problem with a swan nesting in the park or Pawlos on a bike

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by carlota

i saw this picture of WA's 50th birthday banquet. to the right of the picture, the lady wearing white seems to be wearing a large hat. this was an evening reception where you can see the queen wearing a long dress (and other guests). from the pictures i have seen there weren't other ladies wearing hats. is it correct etiquette to wear a hat for an evening banquet inside? i assume the lady was wearing a long dress, but i may be wrong.

http://us.hola.com/imagenes/hola-en-...540-king-a.jpg

Hats are not worn after 17.00/18.00 hours, so the lady made -strictly spoken- a gaffe but of course no one made a problem. All gentlemen wore black tie and I think 80% of the ladies were in long robe. Some chose for a normal dress. Gentlemen simply can hire or borrow a costume. With ladies it will be more difficult, so understandably the fellow citizens chosen by lottery who did not want (or could not) spend too much, were excused.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Empress Merel

No, I meant that you compared them by not sharing a picture with someone not sharing on Facebook what others have done for their birthday. Which in itself is a ridiculous notion.

Kingsday is celebrated nation wide and the DRF have put in a lot of appearance these past days. More than you will ever get with other families. That said, barely any Dutch person cares that he wishes to have a private party, we don't expect them to share everything with the nation. People who turn 50 generally tend to celebrate in a big way here. It's tradition.

Sorry, I did not realize it was such a terrible thing to say.

But I still stand by what I said.
King Willem-Alexander's B-day has been covered big time, with lots of official events, which is great.
He is being celebrated by the Dutch, great.

And then when other royals come to celebrate him, (We think, because apart from the Spanish Regent Couple we don't even know who is there!) - nothing...
Not even a guest list, not even a single group photo, no indication that such photos will be released.
From an international perspective King W-A being celebrated by other royals is one of the highlights.

And try as I might I can't find any precedence among the posts here that it's a Dutch custom not to publish photos from such a celebration. So I don't understand it.
If they wish to protect their privacy, use a hired photographer and release the photos themselves.
It's not like they took their royal guests away on a trip to the Alps.

Okay, if the Dutch are happy and the Dutch press is happy, so be it. - But personally I'm a little disappointed.

[duke of poliganc]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Sorry, I did not realize it was such a terrible thing to say.

But I still stand by what I said.
King Willem-Alexander's B-day has been covered big time, with lots of official events, which is great.
He is being celebrated by the Dutch, great.

And then when other royals come to celebrate him, (We think, because apart from the Spanish Regent Couple we don't even know who is there!) - nothing...
Not even a guest list, not even a single group photo, no indication that such photos will be released.
From an international perspective King W-A being celebrated by other royals is one of the highlights.

And try as I might I can't find any precedence among the posts here that it's a Dutch custom not to publish photos from such a celebration. So I don't understand it.
If they wish to protect their privacy, use a hired photographer and release the photos themselves.
It's not like they took their royal guests away on a trip to the Alps.

Okay, if the Dutch are happy and the Dutch press is happy, so be it. - But personally I'm a little disappointed.

couldn't agree more , the only reason that i expected photos is that there were foreign royals there and even a few monarchs at the party if he had the party with his family and the entire dutch royal family i wouldn't be disappointed if we didn't get pictures .
i'd rather if we don't get pictures from the annual ski vacation but get a group photo from his birthday party .

[Hannelore]

Just for the heck of it, this was 10 years ago when Willem-Alexander shared some of his private 40th birthday bash with photographers: Queen Mathilde: Flashback: Willem-Alexander's 40th birthday

Maxima was a different kind of blond, Friso still alive and well, the 3 Dutch princesses still tiny little cuties, Rosario & husband still together, Victoria didn't yet bring Daniel along and Letizia still carried her own nose. Iñaki & Cristina were invited... Would W-A have dared send them a card this time around? The joys of royal watching, n'est-ce pas?

[Duc_et_Pair]

I see Jeroen van der Meyde, a favourite of the King, made the two pictures. This probably means he has been commissioned by the King to make pictures in Noordeinde Palace and at the Royal Mews. I share my disappointment. It feels like great lovemaking but without happy ending, how to say it, a bit of anticlimax.

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

Just for the heck of it, this was 10 years ago when Willem-Alexander shared some of his private 40th birthday bash with photographers: Queen Mathilde: Flashback: Willem-Alexander's 40th birthday

Maxima was a different kind of blond, Friso still alive and well, the 3 Dutch princesses still tiny little cuties, Rosario & husband still together, Victoria didn't yet bring Daniel along and Letizia still carried her own nose. Iñaki & Cristina were invited... Would W-A have dared send them a card this time around? The joys of royal watching, n'est-ce pas?

maybe Inaki & Cristina were present and they are the reason F&L stayed at the hotel and we don't see a photo

[ladongas]

I did not see any pictures of Princess Beatrix at these events. Did I miss her somehow?

[Duc_et_Pair]

She was there and most likely Jorge and María del Carmen (the in-laws) as well. But so far no pictures.

[Stefanie]

I wondered anyway why he celebrated his 40s birthday so big with publishing photos of all the royal guests. Usually most people I know start celebrating their big birthday only beginning with their 50s. And in contrast to his (lesser important) 40th no photos this time - indeed kind of strange IMO. I mean if it was Maximas 50s it'd be maybe more understandable.

[tommy100]

For me it was because we got photos from the 40th which made me think we would get photos from the 50th. However I guess there is a difference in that the King has given more publicly for this birthday than the 40th. Back then he was the heir not the sovereign and this time he has done Koningsdag, a public dinner and an interview so I guess in his eyes he has done the public side and this was time for the private side.
I'm still secretly hoping for a group picture from the dinner (I'm thinking they did release a picture from the usually private heirs meeting before WA became King) but I can't complain if we don't get it.

[Empress Merel]

Perhaps they will release photos later on, after making sure all the guests are cleared out.

[ashelen]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

Just for the heck of it, this was 10 years ago when Willem-Alexander shared some of his private 40th birthday bash with photographers: Queen Mathilde: Flashback: Willem-Alexander's 40th birthday

Maxima was a different kind of blond, Friso still alive and well, the 3 Dutch princesses still tiny little cuties, Rosario & husband still together, Victoria didn't yet bring Daniel along and Letizia still carried her own nose. Iñaki & Cristina were invited... Would W-A have dared send them a card this time around? The joys of royal watching, n'est-ce pas?

and I notice nobody from the Danish Royal family!

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by ashelen

and I notice nobody from the Danish Royal family!

Frederik had a sailing event 10 years ago, the Farr 40 Worldchampionship took place in Copenhagen that day.
We have no indication about the Danish Royals this year.
Fred has never been serious about royal birthdays/weddings, he preferred to be on his honeymoon when Felipe & Letizia got married two weeks after his own wedding.

[Prisma]

Originally Posted by ladongas

I did not see any pictures of Princess Beatrix at these events. Did I miss her somehow?

Getty Image or Robin Utrecht's photo of Princess Beatrix arriving.

[Nordic]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

Fred has never been serious about royal birthdays/weddings, he preferred to be on his honeymoon when Felipe & Letizia got married two weeks after his own wedding.

Surely being on his own honeymoon is a perfectly acceptable reason for "Fred" not to attend?...

[Duke of Marmalade]

Yes and no, the wedding of a heir to the throne is a State event and one could have argued that 2 weeks of honeymoon would have been sufficient to attend on time, but maybe Frederik and Felipe were not close enough to make that effort, who knows and it's off topic anyway.

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

Yes and no, the wedding of a heir to the throne is a State event and one could have argued that 2 weeks of honeymoon would have been sufficient to attend on time, but maybe Frederik and Felipe were not close enough to make that effort, who knows and it's off topic anyway.

The spanish Wedding was actually only 1 week after the danish Wedding. And at the time the engagement in Spain was announced the date for the danish Wedding had already been known.

[Duke of Marmalade]

sorry to bring this up, i just remember it was controversial enough at the time that the topic even got its own thread!
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...rty-13753.html

[lucien]

Well,it is business as usual again this week for the DUTCH Royal Family.
Thank you.