Willem-Alexander, Máxima and Family, General News 4: Sep 2020- Aug 2023

[Rossina]

Welcome to Willem-Alexander, Máxima and Family, General News Part 4.
In this thread you can post general news and information about the Dutch king and queen and their daughters

The previous thread can be found
here
Please take a look at the
TRF Community Rules & FAQs

[eya]

Animal Day yesterday 4 October and the Palace posted a picture of Luna, Nala and Skipper, the dogs of King Willem-Alexander and his family, during a walk on the Horsten.


https://scontent.fath4-2.fna.fbcdn.n...6e&oe=5F9F3D21

[eya]

In honor of the tenth anniversary of the Caribbean Netherlands, FXDC-Post, the postal service of the Caribbean, prints gold stamps of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima.


https://www.anpfoto.nl/search.pp?eventid=6018713

[eya]

Gift for Queen Máxima's 50th birthday, Jos Aanraad paints Queen Máxima for her birthday: "Hopefully she will recognize herself in it"


https://www.bndestem.nl/roosendaal/j...erin~af14acad/

[SLV]

Well done.

[ashelen]

Beautiful painting, love it!

[eya]

The King with his family are in Greece for holidays

"Deputy Prime Minister De Jonge was surprised at the weekly press conference by questions about a holiday of King Willem-Alexander with his family to Greece. They have a home there. During the press conference, De Jonge knew nothing about it, but it later turned out that the king was indeed on a plane around that time, political sources report."

https://nos.nl/artikel/2352599-griek...t-kabinet.html

[iceflower]

The family has cancelled their holidays in Greece and will return to the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima have made a statement this evening:

We will abort our vacation. We see people's reactions to media reports. And they are intense, and they affect us. We do not want to leave any doubts about it: in order to get the COVID19 virus under control, it is necessary to follow the guidelines. The discussion following our holiday does not contribute to that

** koninklijkhuis: Mededeling van de Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst namens Zijne Majesteit de Koning en Hare Majesteit Koningin Máxima **

[Duke of Marmalade]

I was just about to write: are they serious, the country basically in lockdown, people are asked to suspend non essential travel and they go on holiday?!
At least they are not shy to publicly admit a mistake. And this is a serious mistake, in other countries, well ... this is something where you can seriously put people off and it will be hard to get their appreciation back.

[Katymcwaity]

I don’t think they have apologised though or at least not in so many words and yes, its this kind of thing that ebbs away the goodwill.

[Somebody]

Not sure how returning from Greece helps in fighting the pandemic after they just arrived (and had a private villa to stay in) but I guess it will help to earn a little goodwill back as they are apparently not completely out of touch when the criticism is so loud. The whole decision to leave even though the country is in a partial lockdown was not thought through well enough... not sure why they thought it a good idea... And it's not that they didn't make a mistake regarding holidaying in Greece already

And Katymcwaity is correct: they didn't apologize, they only state that they are touched by the fierce criticism and that the debate 'doesn't help', so they will return...

[Prinsara]

Mentioning awareness of criticism is good, but what's wrong with "it was a mistake and we apologize"? Is it that delicate to say you're sorry?

[MissJanet]

How is this a big deal? Most people in the Netherlands don't wear masks and seem to drastically underestimate the danger of COVID-19. in that light, the outrage about the royal family feels quite phony. Maybe some anti-royals push an agenda.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by MissJanet

How is this a big deal? Most people in the Netherlands don't wear masks and seem to drastically underestimate the danger of COVID-19. in that light, the outrage about the royal family feels quite phony. Maybe some anti-royals push an agenda.

People are going on holidays so Im not sure why it is wrong for the RF, to do so

[HereditaryPrincess]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Mentioning awareness of criticism is good, but what's wrong with "it was a mistake and we apologize"? Is it that delicate to say you're sorry?

Agree. That seems like a good enough apology from Maxima and WA and as someone shielding in lockdown, I appreciate them for owning up to their mistakes - it sets an example to the rest of the Netherlands.

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by HereditaryPrincess

Agree. That seems like a good enough apology from Maxima and WA and as someone shielding in lockdown, I appreciate them for owning up to their mistakes - it sets an example to the rest of the Netherlands.

I was agreeing with the people who pointed out they haven't apologized, actually.

[Marengo]

What a blunder from the king and the prime minister. Only a few days ago the PM asked people to stay home during the autumn holiday. Although legally it may still be allowed to go abroad it certainly is out of tune with what is going on and it paints a portrait of a King who is out of touch, insensitive and uncaring about what is going on. One rule for the little people and another rule for him and his family.

How on earth could he have thought that it would be a good idea to go for yet another vacation to Greece while the country is in the middle of a second wave of the pandemic & in a semi-lockdown? The prime minister said only on Tuesday that all of us should be more careful in scrutinizing our own behavior. The King - as head of state- can be expected to, and should, lead by example.

If the political antenna of the king is still making easily avoidable blunders at this stage that is cause for great concern. It brings back memories of the ill-fated choice of the house in Mozambique. If this happened 15 years ago one could say that he would have to learn etc. But if neither the King nor his advisors can read the room at this point in time, one wonders what will happen if a more serious matter will pop up. Or perhaps advisors did give an urgent warning but the king chose to ignore it, as he ignored his mother's warning about the house in Mozambique, which would be even worse.

The prime minister can expect some scrutiny in parliament next week from what is left of the left parties and certainly from the populist parties as well. Five party leaders have already been wondering openly why the prime minister has not saved the king from himself & warned about taking this vacation. More will surely follow. The PM gives the king and queen a lot of freedom but that also means that they can freely get themselves into trouble, as they did now. It is the PM's responsibility however to keep the monarchy out of trouble, which apparently requires a tighter form of management than is the case at the moment.

At least he did the right thing and apologized and returned. But the reputational damage will be large and will take time to mend.

[Duke of Marmalade]

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...fter-criticism


what a massive error of judgement, again, after being caught without masks on holiday only a few weeks ago.

[kathia_sophia]

Oh what a bad decision from the King and his family to go abroad for holiday during difficult times. I know many people are holidaying now, but WA is the King and should be the one to set an example by following the guidelines and holidaying in the country, not abroad.

What everyone do is one thing, but what the King does is another. I wonder what was he thinking when he decided to take his family to Greece. Perhaps he thought nobody would know where they went? He gambled and he lost. I hope he and his family learn from this mistake, and show more empathy and understanding toward others.

[W.Y.CII]

That's hardly a apology, or a statement to admitting a mistake to me tbh.

I could be, and I hope I am wrong, I feel a sense of arrogance and senselessness from DRF recently.