WA, Máxima & Daughters: Summer Holiday in Argentina & Lawsuit against AP: Summer 2009

[Princess Maxima]

New photos: Reina Máxima - Novedades

[ahtikavalentine]

Originally Posted by Princess Maxima

New photos: Reina Máxima - Novedades

Great pics!!

Do you know who this girl is (of course, the one who's next to Máxima)? http://www.reinamaxima.com/img/laangosturyya%20(7).JPG

[lucien]

Originally Posted by ahtikavalentine

Great pics!!

Do you know who this girl is (of course, the one who's next to Máxima)? http://www.reinamaxima.com/img/laangosturyya%20(7).JPG

Her elder sister Dolores,the artist,I believe.

[ahtikavalentine]

Originally Posted by lucien

Her elder sister,one of them.

Thanks

She's the sister of Dolores?

[Marengo]

The RVD will sue associated press (AP):

Royals sue Associated Press over holiday photos

By our news staff

Dutch royals prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maximá have filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press over pictures taken during a ski holiday in Argentina.

The US agency Associated Press distributed four pictures of Willem-Alexander, Maximá and their daughter princess Amalia while on holiday in the Argentinian ski resort Villa La Angostura this summer.
In a lawsuit set to start on August 14, the royals are demanding that the AP remove the pictures from its database and promise not to distribute any more pictures of the royals when they are not in official function.
Last Thursday, a lawyer for the royals sent a letter to several Dutch media that had published AP's ski pictures. Newspapers AD and Trouw, the press agency GPD and Ilse Media, owner of the website nu.nl, all promised within the requested 24 hours not to publish similar pictures in the future.

Read the entire article of NRC here.

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Although I understand they want to protect their privacy I wonder if threatening with lawsuits on such a frequent basis (U2 concert) is very wise. It certainly is a far cry from royal behavior of the old days, when Queen Wilhelmina forbade her son-in-law to start a lawsuit as she found it bad taste. And to be honest I find it rather curious that they want to go to the most touristic places and still don't want to be pictured. It seems a bit out of touch with reality. Added to that, it seems that they don't mind Argentinian magazines to publish these things, but when the national press does they go to court asap. Added to that, while at first very little people seemed to be interested in these pictures (and no dutch magazine published them), now much more people will have a look - the same happened with the U2 pictures and with the pictures of the family in Frisia during pentecost.

[Princess Maxima]

Originally Posted by ahtikavalentine

Great pics!!

Do you know who this girl is (of course, the one who's next to Máxima)? http://www.reinamaxima.com/img/laangosturyya%20(7).JPG

I think she is Florencia Di Cocco, one of Máxima's best friends

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by Marengo

The RVD will sue associated press (AP):



Read the entire article of NRC here.

-
Although I understand they want to protect their privacy I wonder if threatening with lawsuits on such a frequent basis (U2 concert) is very wise. It certainly is a far cry from royal behavior of the old days, when Queen Wilhelmina forbade her son-in-law to start a lawsuit as she found it bad taste. And to be honest I find it rather curious that they want to go to the most touristic places and still don't want to be pictured. It seems a bit out of touch with reality. Added to that, it seems that they don't mind Argentinian magazines to publish these things, but when the national press does they go to court asap. Added to that, while at first very little people seemed to be interested in these pictures (and no dutch magazine published them), now much more people will have a look - the same happened with the U2 pictures and with the pictures of the family in Frisia during pentecost.

I find their behaviour towards the media pretty agressive and annoying. These days it has become impossible for a royal person to decide or dictate when you are royal and when you are private. It's not that the media did any obscene stalking and followed them to the most private occasions but they were outside, visiting a concert or skiing.

Especially with the Dutch, and especially with WA I always get the feeling that he only wants to be a royal when he choses to but that's not possible for a future head of state. I bet the true motivation behind this is their annoyance about pictures revealing their luxury lifestyle and frequent vacations what has created some polemic in the past. WA would like to do all this "in private", forgetting about the taxpayer partly funding his favourite activities.

There is nothing wrong with these kind of pictures and I hope that the media will continue to publish these and future ones on similar occasions. Yes there is a limit to everything but very often WA is overstretching it, not the media (the complaint against the distribution of pictures where Maxima is wearing glasses (shock, horror) comes to my mind).

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

I find their behaviour towards the media pretty agressive and annoying. These days it has become impossible for a royal person to decide or dictate when you are royal and when you are private. It's not that the media did any obscene stalking and followed them to the most private occasions but they were outside, visiting a concert or skiing.

Especially with the Dutch, and especially with WA I always get the feeling that he only wants to be a royal when he choses to but that's not possible for a future head of state. I bet the true motivation behind this is their annoyance about pictures revealing their luxury lifestyle and frequent vacations what has created some polemic in the past. WA would like to do all this "in private", forgetting about the taxpayer partly funding his favourite activities.

There is nothing wrong with these kind of pictures and I hope that the media will continue to publish these and future ones on similar occasions. Yes there is a limit to everything but very often WA is overstretching it, not the media (the complaint against the distribution of pictures where Maxima is wearing glasses (shock, horror) comes to my mind).

I find AP pretty annoying.Here there is an understanding between press and RVD,anf AP thinks it's above that.Am I surprised,no,seeing where it's from.See?Prove it again,that annoying "above any law thing".

I hope they sue the bejesus out of AP,our Royals ARE entitled to privacy ,twice a year,hence the photo shoots before their holidays.That,might very well seize with this breech.It will NEVER be "the press",or what is called that these days,that dictates
what is to be shown and what not and when and where.Remember that.Never.Basta.

[Princess Maxima]

According to several magazines(f.ex Gente), Willem-Alexander was very angry with the fact that the photographers were following his family so he started to insult them. "You Argentine idiots...There is nothing worst in the world than you" (Spanish: 'Argentinos boludos, son la mierd* del mundo')

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Princess Maxima

According to several magazines(f.ex Gente), Willem-Alexander was very angry with the fact that the photographers were following his family so he started to insult them. "You Argentine idiots...There is nothing worst in the world than you" (Spanish: 'Argentinos boludos, son la mierd* del mundo')

Well,his spanish improved.Or,when in Rome do as the romans do....

[ahtikavalentine]

Originally Posted by Princess Maxima

According to several magazines(f.ex Gente), Willem-Alexander was very angry with the fact that the photographers were following his family so he started to insult them. "You Argentine idiots...There is nothing worst in the world than you" (Spanish: 'Argentinos boludos, son la mierd* del mundo')

That is so MEAN! They are famous, they can not pretend the press won't be following every of their moments. It was a really nasty thing from WA.

[ahtikavalentine]

Originally Posted by lucien

I find AP pretty annoying.Here there is an understanding between press and RVD,anf AP thinks it's above that.Am I surprised,no,seeing where it's from.See?Prove it again,that annoying "above any law thing".

I don't agree it all. I believe as humans they are should prove they have a normal life, and what is wrong with them?? Those are "normal and sweet" pics, I don't see anything wrong in those pics. Also, their vacations are paid thanks to the dutch taxes and you pay one or many of those. I believe that would be wrong if maybe the photos were inside the house they are, but they are in a 'public' place.

They are overreacting, as usual

[Princess Maxima]

I totally agree with you, athikavalentine.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by ahtikavalentine

That is so MEAN! They are famous, they can not pretend the press won't be following every of their moments. It was a really nasty thing from WA.

And it "was a really nasty thing" form AP to think they can invade anybodies privacy if THEY so please.No.And NO again.
I think WA's spanish improved tremendously.Bueno!Bravo Alejandro.

[Lakshmi]

Those pics from vacations are great. What the beautiful surroundings. Maxima, W-A and kids looked so "normal" in them I would say they are royals.

[carlota]

i'm shocked about the news.

initially, the lawsuit against AP: i can understand that they want to protect their kids, but it seems to me the agreement is with the dutch press. therefore, if they are in another country, with press from another country - i'm not sure how the agreement applies. it's despotic behaviour IMO. it seems that WA doesn't learn the lesson - his behaviour is shameful. how can someone say such things? i understand it mustn't be pleasant to be followed around by paparazzi, but i believe this is far too much.

[Duke of Marmalade]

Battling with the media is a fight they can't win. They can sue and complain as much as they want and might succeed in some cases but overall handling the media is such a way will only come with the price of constantly being alerted and waiting to jump on the next opportunity to annoy the much loathed parts of the media. Instead of being relaxed, what people should be on holiday, the Oranges are sporting some paranoia

And why? Because pictures showing them doing all these nice activities or revealing the places they stay might cause polemic and WA doesn't like people realizing that they are having a damn good time partly on taxpayers' expenses. They are not "normal" or "private" but public figures. WA is the classical case of those who likes to tell people to listen to him when he's out there as a royal but to back off when he's not and thankfully this doesn't work. I don't see why they shouldn't be photographed when they are all over the place in a concert or on a ski slope or why it shouldn't be mentioned in the papers that they buy property abroad or go on holiday to Dubai after Christmas.

Other royal families manage to do their deals with the media, pose once when they get somewhere and are left alone for the rest of the time. But to expect that one authorized shoot will cover the rest of their lavish vacations in various locations is quite escapist. WA has chosen to go down the annoying route, well good luck to him waisting his precious time, energy and piece of mind fighting his personal enemy, the evil media people who will even follow him to the other side of the world

[kalnel]

I think they're very badly advised taking this on. They're talking about suing the AP in the United States, where the media has the right to take pictures of people (including children) out in public. There's not a chance a U.S. court will rule that the AP should have honored a Dutch "gentlemen's agreement" about the family's vacation, especially in a public resort in a third country.

This will just raise their profile, make the pictures more valuable, and create additional hostility among the media. Dumb choice.

It's actually pretty ironic that they're suing a U.S. media outlet over this, since they get absolutely no media coverage here. We see stories about the British and Monagasque royals, but that's about it. You could project images of the entire Dutch royal family on giant screens in the middle of Times Square and you would not find five people who would have any idea who they were. (Unless a convention of royalty buffs was in town!)

[ahtikavalentine]

Originally Posted by lucien

And it "was a really nasty thing" form AP to think they can invade anybodies privacy if THEY so please.No.And NO again.
I think WA's spanish improved tremendously.Bueno!Bravo Alejandro.

Don't get me wrong Lucien, but I had noticed that you just adore dutch royals, I do it too, but you just refuse to admit some things. Do you think is a nice behavior from a prince to say to the media "Argentinos boludos, son la mierd* del mundo"?, excuse me, but I think it was a terrible thing comming from a prince.

And, oh yeah! what an honour to say that his Spanish is improving.

[Marengo]

Although I agree that they are entitled to privacy I find the constant law suits, threats with law suits, the continuous outrage that they show rather tedious and in bad taste. Apparently the prince yelled to the Argentinian paparazzi again, he did the same in London, made ungracious remarks in New Zealand etc. What is he hoping to achieve with this? And why is he the only one doing this. The prince of Asturias, who has far more paparazzi attention than the prince of Orange, never snapped at paparazzi, he needs no media code, he doesn't freak out when he, his wife or his daughters are pictured, and in general shows a far more royal and adult attitude than the prince of Orange, who seems like an angry, spoiled and sulking teenager at times.

In the end it doesn't seem very effective either. When they tried to forbid the pictures of Maxima with glasses in Argentina, half the country was wondering: why are we not allowed to see Maxima with glasses (which was not the discussion the RVD started), and consequently looked at the pictures, pictures they would not have looked at otherwise.

Added to the above, the prince and princess seem rather naive or stupid to expect that the Argentinian paparazzi would leave them alone, while int he past they had so many bad experiences AND they visited a very touristic place. All of us remember how a bodyguard of the couple had a row with a female hysterical Argentinian journalist in the past....

Just accept it and get over it would be my advice. And as our dear Annie M.G. Schmidt once put in her song: Don't nag: