megknight said:
Part of me agrees with what people are saying about the timing. But speculation has been going so nuts about this lately that I wonder if they even thought they had an option. She REALLY looks pregnant in a lot of pictures, so it is impossible to wait much longer. My thought was maybe they paired it with C-A's birthday because they knew they would already be putting out an annoucment/photos to mark her birthday. This way they only have one announcement instead of two. In which case, that is really nice that they did that.
Weren't the photos of Amalia's birthday delayed already because of the official mourning period for Prince Bernhard?
I think that because Maxima will likely be out and about in the next few weeks whether officially or privately, it would've been hard to conceal the pregnancy much more. Even though it is winter and bulky jackets can hide a fair amount, you can't hide everything. The news had to be announced sooner rather than later.
And while the tragedy in Asia at the time is quite a terrible loss of life, there could always be one reason or another as to why they shouldn't have announced their happy news. Two weeks ago it was that the official mourning period for Prince Bernhard was still ongoing, this week it was the unforseen tragedy in Asia; next week it could be something else terrible (knock on wood not).
Angel S said:
If you would stop for a sec & take into account the situation at hand you'd see that they did the right thing. First off they cancelled the informal press metting to avoid having to talk about it at that moment & simply postponed saying anything for 2 more weeks. Probaby because of the death of the Prince B & also because of the protocol waiting period of 13 weeks. I think they knew they could not hold out more than 2 weeks so they used that time to prepare an announcement. Also they had every right to be upset #1 because it's not very nice to take away a parents joy to announce a pregnancy. #2 because of the 13 week waiting period & #3 because of the mouring period of Prince B.
I mean I'd be angry too if my grandfather died recently & someone announced my pregancy before my 13 week period without my permission while my family was still in mouring! I mean really how would you feel?
I think in some ways Willem and Maxima set themselves up for the news to be spoiled. Didn't they set up the informal press meeting post-Prince Bernhard's death and funeral -- a time when officially they were still in mourning. As I recall, when it was posted here, some members said that the last time Willem and Maxima met unofficially with the press it was to announce Maxima's pregnancy with Amalia, so the expectations were also for a similar announcement this time around.
If they had truly wanted to announce the news themselves directly, they would've waited until this week to set up an informal meeting with the press and to release Amalia's first birthday pictures, to thank the public for their well wishes, cards and gifts for Amalia as well as announcing the pregnancy news.
They tipped their hand with the announcement of the press meeting during the mourning period, only to pull the rug out when the rumours started swirling uncontrollably about a second pregnancy and they couldn't reveal the news themselves. The fact of the matter is that there were always rumours of Maxima (and every other CP) being pregnant whether she really was or not; this time was no different.
The protocol of waiting three months wouldn't have necessarily been met two weeks ago; as it is barely being met now if you figure that Maxima became pregnant sometime in October. If it was October 1 then January 1 would be the three month mark, and if it was any time after October that is even further away from the three month mark.
