Prince Willem-Alexander's 40th Birthday Celebrations: August 31-September 2, 2007

[Marengo]

Well, I suppose the guests could arrive at friday evening, and they leave on sunday maybe. I assume they are staying in The Hague? So they will probably all go to Apeldoorn by Royal Bus (two words that don't combine well IMHO )

[Mandrake]

The Royal Bus, maybe a strange combination of words, but it's cheaper and causes less pollution than the 25 cars that would be needed otherwise!
It's the 'they will be going to the Loo in Apeldoorn' that's bugging me!

[Verde Esmeralda]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Why am I not surprised? (And next tot hat I don't get the impression that Frederik and Willem-Alexander are very close, I think it's more likely that we see the Belgium royals, Victoria and Haakon and Mette-Marit. But let's wait and see. Who knows who will show up.

I agree Maxie, I don't recall seeing neither WA and Fred together in too many events, or demostrating a close relationship, nor Máxima and Mary. The assistance of the royals you mention also sounds quite logical to me.

[mathilde16]

I've heard, that the royal guest arriving at saterday afternoon/evening and stay till saterday evening.. so just one evening
But i'm going to 'Het Loo' to look at the royal guest!

[laduchesse]

It would be so awesome if Prince Charles and the Duchess attended. Perhaps Prince William could stand in for Prince Charles at the Sept. 1st event. I just think it would be such a morale booster for the Prince and Duchess after all the pressure/bad press they've received over the memorial.

[Maxie]

I just read somewhere (don't recall where, sorry) that the Duchess of Cornwall will be on holiday for a couple of days.

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by mathilde16

I've heard, that the royal guest arriving at saterday afternoon/evening and stay till saterday evening.. so just one evening
But i'm going to 'Het Loo' to look at the royal guest!

So it seems they are going to Het Loo for a dinner and maybe a ball. I assume they will be in their eveningwear when they arrive as I do not think Palace Het Loo has much possibilities for the ladies to change clothes etc, as it is a museum.
Now if you could take your camera and post the pictures here later you would make many people happy

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I am pretty sure that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be crusified in their own country if they attended a party only a day after Diana's memorial service, so i don't think they will attend. They probably prefer to spend time with the two princes now anyway, who must have some emotional days.

[Aurora810]

Well, I certainly am not that wise to all this stuff, but it seems likely that this is more of a Dutch royal family celebration than a European royal celebration. I'm thinking that if other European royalty were planning on attending this event we would have known by now. It is nearly Sept. 1st in the Netherlands and still no word on foreign royals attending. Either way I'm still looking forward to seeing this event with great anticipation.

[Marengo]

Het Algemeen Dagblad has this article about the birthday party. Apparently he is inviting around 200 people. They stress that the party is private and are speculating about the guests.

In the reactions people are mostly complaining about the costs and they are under the impression that the state will be paying for it (which they are not).

[Princess Maxima]

Maria Teresa and Henri will be going to the party

40e anniversaire de Son Altesse Royale le Prince d’Orange

Vendredi 31 août et samedi 1er septembre 2007 au Palais Het Loo, Apeldoorn, Pays-Bas.

[Verde Esmeralda]

Are the guests already arriving at Het Loo ?

[carlota]

Originally Posted by Princess Maxima

Maria Teresa and Henri will be going to the party

it's super that they are attending. they really showed quite a close relationship during the luxembourgish state visit to the netherlands... although as far as i could see in the official webpage it's le grand-duc heritier, guillaume, who is attending the celebrations.



"Vendredi 31 août et samedi 1er septembre 2007 au Palais Het Loo à Apeldoorn au Pays-Bas, le Grand-Duc héritier assistera aux festivités consacrées au 40e anniversaire de Son Altesse Royale le Prince d'Orange. "

I agree Maxie, I don't recall seeing neither WA and Fred together in too many events, or demostrating a close relationship, nor Máxima and Mary.

me neither, but at the celebrations for king carl gustav's anniversary last year, willem-alexander took both ladies, maxima and mary, by his side, because frederik wasn't there, although perhaps it was merely protocol because of the fact that mary had no one else to escort her. there isn't any mention of the event in their official agenda, and the danes are usually quite quick for those things...



i also believe the belgium royals will make it, especially philippe and mathilde. the benelux royals all seem quite close. i hope haakon and mm will be there as well because of the same reason!

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Verde Esmeralda

Are the guests already arriving at Het Loo ?

They will only go to Apeldoorn tomorrow evening. No details have been released by the court but I suspect that the guests are received in The Hague and are staying there at Palace Noordeinde and maybe even Huis ten Bosch. Maxima´s parents are probably staying at Villa Eikenhorst, they usually do. I wonder if her brothers and (half) sisters will attend.

[Princess Maxima]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Maxima´s parents are probably staying at Villa Eikenhorst, they usually do. I wonder if her brothers and (half) sisters will attend.

I don't think its likely that Martin or Ines will attend(no idea about Juan)... Martin always sais he is too busy to travel to the Netherlands and Ines is finishing university.

[Marengo]

I have just read a post of Mardam, a member of All Things Royal (the Dutch version). She is in Apeldoorn and says that the CP and his family are already there. Hotel ´De Keizerskroon´ is heavily guarded by the police, so I assume that the guests will be staying there and at Castle het Oude Loo. She also said there was a lot of activity under the roof of the stables (where the photoshoot with the Japanese crownprincely family was taken) and apparently Maxima and Willem-Alexander were checking things out over there. If the guests are in Apeldoorn already they will surely enjoy the fireworks of tonight. which happen each year near Palace Het Loo to mark the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina. Mardam went to the fireworks and says there was a special tribune for the royal guests, but it was placed behind the plants, so she couldn t see anybody. She also says that there were several professional photographers making pictures and they claimed they recognised Felipe, Letizia and Mette-Marit. The fireworks were acompanied by music.

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Note that nothing of this has been reported by the media as they consider it private. The Dutch are quite unique with this, at the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and British celebrations they tend to be much more open and at least allow pictures of the arrival of the guests.

[acdc1]

So there will be no pictures released at all? I thought there was going to be some sort of very brief photo op.

[Empress]

There probably will be an official photo released of all of the guests, after the official party. The party does not start tonight, but rather on September 1.

[JessRulz]

Originally Posted by acdc1

So there will be no pictures released at all? I thought there was going to be some sort of very brief photo op.

Earlier in the thread there was talk of a photo op with the birthday boy and his family, I don't think there will be one with the guests though. Pity.

[lucien]

There will be a photo-shoot with the arrival of the guests tonight,that is if the weather isn't too bad,otherwise that will be cancelled according to hja's Royalblog.Alexander is keeping the guestlist secret untill tonight as "it is a private party" according to the RVD on behalve of Alexander.
http://www.royalblog.nl/

Courtesy HJA.

[maxima88]

Does anyone know what exactly time they are arriving??