The Prince of Orange & Princess Máxima in the Dutch Antilles: October 9-10, 2010

[lucien]

TRH will attend the ceremonies concerning the dissolving of the Dutch Antilles on October 10th,10-10-10.

The islands of Curacao and St.Maarten/St.Martin will have a independent status within the Kingdom from then on.
Bonaire,Saba and Statia/St.Eustatius will become dutch municipalities.All is according to the vote of the population
of the islands.Aruba already has its Status Aparte within the Kingdom since years.

[rubies]

Wow, this must be exciting for the islands, is there any 'problems' in the Netherlands regarding this? Or is it just ceremonial for all intense purposes? No real change.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by rubies

Wow, this must be exciting for the islands, is there any 'problems' in the Netherlands regarding this? Or is it just ceremonial for all intense purposes? No real change.

No problems,but of no importance to the average dutch either.What is good for the islands,according
to the islanders themselves,is that they don't have to cough up financially for "Curacao" any longer.
Korsou has to clean up its own mess while The Netherlands take over the multi multi millions of debt as
they,the local government,have/had a hole in their hand and the other islands found they had to pay
way too much to "Curacao".

I think especially the small islands are happy with their new status after october 10th.Curacao demanding
too much both financially and domestically was also the reason for Aruba to apply for a Status Aparte
within the Kingdom,independent from Curacao.

Many people on Curacao feel we,the dutch,stapped on their preciouis toes by taken over the debts by us but we
have a say in the spending of it as we do not wish to spend our tax millions to a black hole.It,Curacao, is generally
known to be the most corrupt of the islands so they do not like too many on the lookout,and next to that also is a
popular holiday destination for the dutch,allthough,I myself prefer the smaller islands,Saba and Statia,bliss,and very
kind locals and they will have the same status as any other dutch municipality which I do hope works out well for
them,Bonaire,Saba and Statia.Lovely pieces of paradise,our tropical surprises in dutch milkchocolate as we say.

[rubies]

Originally Posted by lucien

No problems,but of no importance to the average dutch either.What is good for the islands,according
to the islanders themselves,is that they don't have to cough up financially for "Curacao" any longer.
Korsou has to clean up its own mess while The Netherlands take over the multi multi millions of debt as
they,the local government,have/had a hole in their hand and the other islands found they had to pay
way too much to "Curacao".

I think especially the small islands are happy with their new status after october 10th.Curacao demanding
too much both financially and domestically was also the reason for Aruba to apply for a Status Aparte
within the Kingdom,independent from Curacao.

Many people on Curacao feel we,the dutch,stapped on their preciouis toes by taken over the debts by us but we
have a say in the spending of it as we do not wish to spend our tax millions to a black hole.It,Curacao, is generally
known to be the most corrupt of the islands so they do not like too many on the lookout,and next to that also is a
popular holiday destination for the dutch,allthough,I myself prefer the smaller islands,Saba and Statia,bliss,and very
kind locals and they will have the same status as any other dutch municipality which I do hope works out well for
them,Bonaire,Saba and Statia.Lovely pieces of paradise,our tropical surprises in dutch milkchocolate as we say.

Thank you for the info lucien!!!!

[lucien]

Originally Posted by lucien

TRH will attend the ceremonies concerning the dissolving of the Dutch Antilles on October 10th,10-10-10.

The islands of Curacao and St.Maarten/St.Martin will have a independent status within the Kingdom from then on.
Bonaire,Saba and Statia/St.Eustatius will become dutch municipalities.All is according to the vote of the population
of the islands.Aruba already has its Status Aparte within the Kingdom since years.

TRH will attend the last Session of the Staten (Parliament) at Willemstad,Curacao on october 9th.
Late that evening they will attend the ceremony at the Brion Square where the Flag of the Antilles
will be lowered for the last time and the Dutch Antilles will cease to exist and the Statute of the Kingdom
will be adjusted accordingly.

The Prince and Princess will also visit several projects by the Orange Fund.

[lucien]

The Prince and Princess have just arrived at Curacao ahead of tomorrows ceremonies as the present Netherlands Antilles will be dissolved and Curacao, and St.Maarten will be independent within the Kingdom and Bonaire,Saba and St,Eustatia will get the status of dutch municipalities.

TRH will,ao,attend the ceremony of lowering the Flag of the Netherlands Antilles for the last time tomorrow night,saturday october 9th.

[Fanvanmaxima]

First photos:

» Prinselijk paar bij opheffing Nederlandse Antillen

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Fanvanmaxima

First photos:

» Prinselijk paar bij opheffing Nederlandse Antillen

Mooi!

[Fanvanmaxima]

Playing baseball: BelgaPicture - Category details

[rubies]

Great photos! Maxima looks great!

[Zonk]

I love seeing photos of these two together.

Can I just say that Curaco is one of my favorite places to visit. What a beautiful beautiful island.

I must admit, however, that I was very disappointed in my post card search. I just knew when I was visiting, that I would be able to purchase a postcard of the Dutch Royal Family. I couldn't find NOT ONE. I know its silly, but I thought I would find some there.

[Katrianna]

Thanks for the pictures fanvanmaxima, the couple are really enjoying themselves.

[JessRulz]

09-10-2010 Alfa Prince Willem-Alexander Princess Maxima visited the fundashon pro alfa project which allows young people and adults to have a second chance to learn a profession or to enhance their language skill.

PPE Gallery

09-10-2010 Curacao Princess Maxima and Prince Willem-Alexander visited the Aminta Sprockel challenger little league.

PPE Gallery

It's nice to see them in Curacao, it looks like they have wonderful weather (shocking in the Caribbean ). Máxima's hat is not to my liking - it's missing the top

[carlota]

thanks for this thread, i didn't know that the antilles were given a separate status! however, from what i can understand they will continue to pertain to the netherlands but will be only addressed differently - a system similar to france and their colonies in the caribean, perhaps?

the kingdom will consist of the Netherlands, Aruba and the two largest ex-Antillean islands: Curacao with about 150,000 inhabitants and St Maarten with about 40,000
The islands of Bonaire, Saba, and St Eustatius, with less than 20,000 inhabitants between them, will become special-status Dutch municipalities.

[lucien]

Willemstad Curacao,Brion Square at midnight:

PPE Agency

courtesy PPE

http://www.anp-photo.com/search.pp?m...=20986&flush=1

courtesy ANP

[lucien]

Originally Posted by carlota

thanks for this thread, i didn't know that the antilles were given a separate status! however, from what i can understand they will continue to pertain to the netherlands but will be only addressed differently - a system similar to france and their colonies in the caribean, perhaps?

They are not colonies,but seperate countries within the Kingdom,except Bonaire,Saba and Statia who's choice it was the become dutch municipalities as of today.Not quit like the French " extra mer" system.St.Maarten / St.Martin is halve Dutch and halve French btw,as you probably know

[dazzling]

Great seeing the couple together, this looks quite a nice visit. How far are these places from the Netherlands?
Maxima's fashion choices so far seem to be fun but not very Maxima style.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by dazzling

Great seeing the couple together, this looks quite a nice visit. How far are these places from the Netherlands?
Maxima's fashion choices so far seem to be fun but not very Maxima style.

It's in the Caribbean,about 9 to 10 hours flight from here.
TRH return on todays flight back from Willemstad Hato.

[Marika86]

Willem Alexander and Maxima in the Dutch Antilles:

ANP Beeldbank

[ahtikavalentine]

All sizes | _DSC3871 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

All sizes | _DSC3843 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

All sizes | _DSC3807 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!