The Prince of Orange, Current Events 2 (April 2007 - April 2013)
 

Welcome to the 2nd thread about Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands' Current Events

The previous thread can be found here

Please post current news and pictures only of Willem-Alexander in this thread.

While doing so, please remember to follow the TRF posting guidelines and the copyright rules TRF Posting Rules & Guidelines :

• The current events' thread is only for current news & events
• Do not forget to provide sources for all photos & articles
• Please do not linked the photos directly. Hotlinking is strongly prohibited.
• Pictures from previous events may be posted in the picture thread via imagehost.
• Please be respectful to others' opinions even if you're disagree, and always be courteous to your follow members.
• Lastly, have fun and enjoy!

Ahead of the 40th birthday tomorrow,Alexander:

https://www.rtl.nl/actueel/rtlnieuws/...nder40jaar.xml

:flowers:

Sigh, they never learn that a crownprince doesn't pay a statevisit (as was one of the captions on the website)...
-
I am very much looking forward to the interview tomorrow, the preview seemed rather promessing.

Thank you so much for posting this link. :flowers: The pictures are great. He looked so cute when he was little, so much like Amalia. Did I get it right that he had an accident with ex-girlfriend Emily? Never new that. Is it known by the way if there will be some kind of photoshoot tommorrow?

Happy Birthday Crown Prince Willem Alexander!

Happy Birthday prince Willem-Alexander!

With the flag and orange pennant out,Happy Birthday!

https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/dsc?s=o...&ext=image.jpg

https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/dsc?s=o...&ext=image.jpg

ANP Beeldbank

And some more on,courtesy HJA's,Royalblog:

https://www.royalblog.nl/

The Prince and the Princess preparing for the kingship
 

There is an interesting article on how the Prince and Princess build their own network which can serve them in the future. For the article, click this link.

A summary of a few interesting parts:

Together with Princess Máxima, the Prince of Orange is building a network of influential persons. Almost every month there are informal diners in their private villa De Eikenhorst (the Eyrie between the Oaks), hidden in the woods of the royal domain De Horsten (the Eyries).

All guests are screened and invited by the secretariate of the Prince and Princess. They want to meet contemporaries (with the age of around 40). At home. And informal. In the past two years around 100 persons of the Prince and Princess' own generation, from the world of politics, finances, art, sports, sciences, medics, education, environment, etc.

The secretariate works like they are working for a talkshow. They are looking for persons who are interesting enough, thanks to a book they have written, thanks to a remarkable examination, thanks to special merits, thanks to outstanding performances, etc. During the diner the secretary makes sure that anyone will be able to have the word. Sometimes guests are so busy and enthusiastic that they unintendedly push aside other guests. The secretary then does a trick by breaking in: 'Haven't you published a most interesting article lately?' or 'What is your opinion on that?' etc. The similarity with talkshows on TV is: you must be able 'to sell yourself'. If someone has not proved to be an interesting conversation partner, then it was a 'bad buy'.

The Prince and Princess attach great importance to get known with the future generation who will held power in the future. Who will take important positions in society. Who have an influential network at home and abroad. These diners have two targets. At the one side the expanding of the informal network of the future King and at the other side the hope that their influential network will spread support and even enthusiasm for the monarchy. The Orange-Nassaus know it for more than 600 years: without base no monarchy. That is the strategy behind it.

Usually the ten guests will be received at the Eikenhorst and get known to each other. The Prince and Princess will arrive in the salon after a while. The Prince will greet every guest and urges them to be relaxed and to make it a pleasant evening and for all: that everyone is free to speak. According to some guests the diners are conventional: the Dutch-French cuisine. The wine is very good. Argentinean wine, chosen and taken out of Argentina by the Princess herself.

The salon where the conversations start is classic organized, with in the middle an open fire. The wooden table in the dining room is large enough for ten guests. English fine-painters have painted the Chinese wallpapers with precize hand. Birds are painted above the doors like they are sitting on a branch above the door. A very exquisite interior.

During the diners most guests say 'U' ('Thou'). An individual said the more informal 'Je' ('You'). Usually the staff leaves after the diner. Mostly the personnel leaves the villa the dinner.

Some guests stated: "I have been their guest, I have been seated at their diner table and they have taken me fully serious'. A professor said he felt "appaling cheerfully" when he left the villa ad was driven home: "they behaved like curious students". Many guests do have persons in their surroundings which were critical about the monarchy or for which the monarchy is no part in their 'blueprint of the ideal society'. But they find out that the Prince and Princess are giving good contents to the monarchy: "I can now sincerely defend them. For me it is no formality that I do that. It are nice, hardworking persons. They have a good laugh. They are selfconscious about their exalted position but also about their vulnerability".

Dutch crown prince: will he be a ceremonial king?

When the next in line to the throne of the Netherlands, Prince Willem-Alexander - the present queen's eldest son - actually comes to take over as head of state, the country's constitutional monarchy should be radically overhauled. tch crown prince: will he be a ceremonial king?

Dutch crown prince: will he be a ceremonial king? - Radio Netherlands Worldwide - Independent thinking, independent voice - English

75% says: no ceremonial King
 

A poll by the NOS (the Dutch equivalent of the BBC) showed:

77% thinks the Netherlands should stay a monarchy
14% thinks the Netherlands should become a republic
9% has no opinion on this

8% thinks the Queen should have more influence than she has now
62% thinks the political influence of the Queen should remain the same
25% thinks the Queen should not have political influence
5% has no opinion on this

30% has no any problem when the Queen would ignore the politicians
40% has only a little problem when the Queen would ignore the politicians
14% has a problem when the Queen would ignore the politicians
8% has a major problem when the Queen would ignore the politicians
8% has no opinion on this

21% is very satisfied with the way the Queen has fulfilled her 27-years Reign
55% is satisfied with the way the Queen has fulfilled her 27-years Reign
20% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
4% is not satisfied with the way the Queen has fulfilled her 27-years Reign

63% thinks that the Queen has shown her human side more in the latest years
21% sees no difference in the Queen's style
16% has no opinion on this

25% has a very great confidence in a King Willem IV Alexander
51% has a great confidence in a King Willem IV Alexander
14% has nor a great neither little confidence in King Willem IV Alexander
4% has little confidence in a King Willem IV Alexander
3% has very little confidence in a King Willem IV Alexander
3% has no opinion on this

Here are the results (55 pages in pdf)

What a change if you compare this with 10 years ago. I believe the confidence that people had in their future monarch was rather low (compared to these percentages anyway). If they would have held this poll after his television portrait I assume the percentages would be even higher. Newspapers, televisionprogrammes etc. really stumbled over each other this week in their praise. Even the NRC and Volkskrant! It was all ' he is ready for the throne' , ' he has grown so much' , ' the prince has much knowledge about...' etc etc.

The Prince was in New York today, he was the Chair of the preparatory meeting for the International Year of Sanitation.

The Year is organized by UNSGAB, UNICEF and UNDESA.

Press Release of UNICEF:
Full article: UNICEF - Press centre - Addressing the global sanitation crisis

UN SG remarks at the meeting (Ban Ki-moon seems to be very happy with W-A):
https://www.unicef.org/media/files/SG...ry_Meeting.pdf

Full article: IOL: 'More than 2bn people don't have toilets'

PPE Agency

Courtesy PPE/Paolo Filgueiras

Speech by HRH,yesterday:

Het Koninklijk Huis

Today HRH is in Washington DC for talks with representatives of organisations active in the field of Water and Sanitation,the US Agency for International Development,the Global Environment & Technology Foundation as well as talks at the Worldbank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Het Koninklijk Huis

Interesting! Two royal in DC! Willem and Q. Elizabeth. I thought he would only go to NY. Is his visit only for a day to Washington?

You are forgetting the 3rd one: the Duke of Edinburgh (his usual fate I am afraid) ;)

Yes,he will fly back tonight as he has a function here tomorrow,the hand-out of the Unilever Science Prize.
:smile:

And Queen Rania, she was/is in US too.

Is the special TV show on W-A's 40th birthday still online somewhere? Sorry I missed it and cannot find it on uitzendinggemist.nl anymore...

I wish I may be able to see some photos of the events...I'm a great fan of Prince of Orange and his family.

Vanesa.

New York,last monday.

Het Koninklijk Huis

HRH today at the Unilever Science Award:

PPE Agency

Courtesy PPE/Buys