The Princess of Orange's preparation for her role as queen

[Somebody]

Another party to attend for Amalia with her parents... sorry but I don't think the image is her doing any favours, partying with the international jet set.
IMO there is lack of seriousness when it comes to Amalias role as heir.
Surprising since the approval ratings for the DRF have been going downhill for some time now.
Not every country has to be as serious as Spain but Amalia seems to be at the other end of the spectrum, some middle ground would be good.

She is attending the wedding of the woman only a few years her senior with the most officially recognized noble titles in the world. That seems a very appropriate event to attend for a heir; and she did so at the arm of the head of the house of a defunct European monarchy. She also attended the wedding of the crown prince of Jordan with her parents; which again is a very appropriate event to attend - and was attended by other heirs as well.

And I don't think anyone in the Netherlands considers Amalia 'not serious'. I'd think she would rather be considered 'too serious' for some, for example, I don't think many other teenagers would show up in their free time at a debate at parliament just out of curiosity; nor would they study Chinese at high school, obtain the highest grades in high school, nor attend a highly selective program at the University of Amsterdam.

By all standards, Amalia is a very serious student, who takes her future role as serious as can be (her father primarily had to make sure she didn't overdo it(!) but allowed herself to have some fun as well), who also has a network among the international royalty and nobility, which is to be expected based on her position.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I have no doubt that Amalia is a very clever and intelligent person and will do very well in her studies. To be clever is kind of a heritage of the DRF.
What I worry about is the public perception, what today is equally important, unlike in the times of Beatrix or people making the odd joke about Prinz Pils.
There has been a lot of unfortunate coverage about vacations, parties in recent months and I think that those pictures are feeding the narrative, not only for Amalia but for WA and Maxima as well.

 

[Somebody]

I have no doubt that Amalia is a very clever and intelligent person and will do very well in her studies. To be clever is kind of a heritage of the DRF.
What I worry about is the public perception, what today is equally important, unlike in the times of Beatrix or people making the odd joke about Prinz Pils.
There has been a lot of unfortunate coverage about vacations, parties in recent months and I think that those pictures are feeding the narrative, not only for Amalia but for WA and Maxima as well.

So far, I am not seeing any of that tendency in the Dutch media. The public perception, as far as I can see, is the one I described.

However, I agree that it might be a risk if she would be seen partying extensively. So far, I have not seen any evidence of it - if any of the sister's is considered frivolous, that would be Alexia (fair or not). I've seen her attend weddings of a crown prince and the most titled noble in the world as well as attending an event in Venice that was also attended by members of the Belgian royal family; of course, she is also expected to attend the coming of age-birthday event of another heir, just like she did in Norway, where other heirs also gathered. What parties (of the international jet set) are you thinking of that might result in such an image?

 

[Countessmeout]

It would be a problem if she was out partying as in going to clubs and big parties drinking and so on.I mean she is a college student so some of that would be expected even of an heir.

But we're talking going to weddings. Stuffy royal affairs where not celebrities but members of royalty/aristocracy that are her contemporaries are. That's a huge difference.

Kind of funny honestly. Does anyone call royals going to Queen Margrethe's birthday 'just partying with the jet set'? Or only when the royal in question is young.I am confused at what the difference is.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I don`t know what Amalia is doing behind closed doors, probably studying hard.
My point is (and its well possible that other people have a different perception) that most times I see Amalia in pictures its with her parents at society events, shopping abroad, on holiday.
There is little emphasis on the 'bread and butter' business of royalty, what surprises me considering the downfall of approval rates of her parents in recent years. Nothing like acting out but rather not getting the sign of the times for a monarchy in general.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

I have no doubt that Amalia is a very clever and intelligent person and will do very well in her studies. To be clever is kind of a heritage of the DRF.
What I worry about is the public perception, what today is equally important, unlike in the times of Beatrix or people making the odd joke about Prinz Pils.
There has been a lot of unfortunate coverage about vacations, parties in recent months and I think that those pictures are feeding the narrative, not only for Amalia but for WA and Maxima as well.

I don’t think the approval ratings of the DRF will be going down because she attended the wedding. The ratings will go down for much bigger reasons than her attendance.

 

[Countessmeout]

I don`t know what Amalia is doing behind closed doors, probably studying hard.
My point is (and its well possible that other people have a different perception) that most times I see Amalia in pictures its with her parents at society events, shopping abroad, on holiday.
There is little emphasis on the 'bread and butter' business of royalty, what surprises me considering the downfall of approval rates of her parents in recent years. Nothing like acting out but rather not getting the sign of the times for a monarchy in general.

Because she is a college student. Eight months out of the year you don't see her because she is behind closed doors studying.

Imagine going on vacation on the summer? Or to wedding of close friends? I mean how could commoners ever relate to such a life.

How is this different then any other royal?Think about William in his college days. Only thing we ever saw of him was ski vacations or beach vacations. He had privacy when he was in college. Oh wait he is a man. Just like Maria Chiara vs Christian. Men are held to different standards.

 

[Somebody]

Amalia went on a two-week tour to visit the overseas part of the Kingdom in February. She always attends King's day in April and started to attend official events such as official dinners and Prinsjesdag. More recently, she also started to represent the royal family at high-profile international events such as the coronation of king Charles III, major birthday celebrations of future monarchs and a wedding of a future monarch (just like her colleague Elisabeth from Belgium).

I truly don't know what else we could expect of a full-time college student (which is even more than 8 months a year in the Netherlands - only July and August are 'off' (unless you have to do resits; in that case you'll be back earlier for those) and two weeks around Christmas).

She cannot help it that in the last year she also was papped two times: while shopping in Madrid (which she cannot do in the Netherlands due to security concerns) and during a summer holiday-visit of Venice in Italy. I for one am glad that at least outside of the Netherlands at times she is able to lead a somewhat normal life given that a normal student life was taken away from her by the very serious threats to her life by the local maffia.

 

[Saragli]

I also disagree with the assessment that she is an unserious jet-setter. From my perspective, she has inherited her grandmothers no-nonsense, business' like, demeanor. Her parents have, fair or not, received lots of backlash and criticism for their lifestyles but I think its unfair to pass that on to the PoO. I think she is doing really great, slowly gaining confidence, and growing into her role the best she can currently.

 

[southwind]

The problem, I think, is that people are compearing her to the other heirs all the time. The fact that her sister went to a solo engagment when she hasn't done one in her country doesn't sound good for many people. It was a terrible PR desicion.

Is not about a male and femele thing, it's about tiemes changes. Royals need more contact with the people nowdays. Show them why they wort it.
She could do small things once a month, go to talks (even online ones), go to a school, to a hospital, represent different causes...

She needs to do hard work (and her parents too) to change the perception of the royal family.

 

[theroyalfly]

The problem, I think, is that people are compearing her to the other heirs all the time. The fact that her sister went to a solo engagment when she hasn't done one in her country doesn't sound good for many people. It was a terrible PR desicion.

Is not about a male and famele thing, it's about tiemes changes. Royals need more contact with the people nowdays. Show them why they wort it.
She could do small things once a month, go to talks (even online ones), go to a school, to a hospital, represent different causes...

She needs to do hard work (and her parents too) to change the perception of the royal family.

Leave her alone. She has been through enough.

 

[Blog Real]

The Princess of Orange is almost 20 years old. It shouldn't be long before she starts taking on solo commitments.

 

[kalnel]

Also, she is working on her education right now. She has made that a priority, as she demonstrated by declining any stipend.

 

[Mbruno]

Because she is a college student. Eight months out of the year you don't see her because she is behind closed doors studying.

Imagine going on vacation on the summer? Or to wedding of close friends? I mean how could commoners ever relate to such a life.

How is this different then any other royal?Think about William in his college days. Only thing we ever saw of him was ski vacations or beach vacations. He had privacy when he was in college. Oh wait he is a man. Just like Maria Chiara vs Christian. Men are held to different standards.

I don't think there is a gender issue in this case. When William was attending university, he was not the heir. He was the son of a very active heir (Charles) in what was at the time a quite large royal family with a big number of highly visible working royals. There was no social expectation that William would be a full-time royal at that time and that explains why there wasn't accordingly any pressure to see him then taking up official royal business. Once William graduated from St Andrews, he went on to military training in the 3 services, which was in this case socially expected of him and helped to create a feeling that William was "doing his part".

On this last issue, I understand that the Dutch royal family has a different relationship with the armed forces than other royal families. Princess Beatrix did not serve in the military and, from what I see, there are no calls within the broader Dutch society on Amalia to serve either. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore how being or having been in the military has been a plus in PR terms in the case of heirs like Elisabeth and Leonor.

 

[MARG]

I am staggered by the negative view of Amalia. Of course they only see her holidaying, she is still at University, even if she can't live on site in a dorm anymore which is a huge obstacle for her being "part" of varsity life. No swot groups and rushing out for a coffee after hitting the books with friends.

Hopefully she is beavering away at her studies alone at home and perhaps the handicap of not being able to fully participate in university life she will be able to attain her degree early by having a lot of extra time to study.

But that is what is confounding me the most. Almost everyone has written at some time or another about the courses, degrees attained, and languages spoken by heirs and it is seen as essential and yet, here is Amalia, at the ripe old age of almost twenty and being slammed for not being more visible, out in the open doing royal duties, etc.

The woman cannot be in two different places at a time and, forgive me if I am in error, she has had some pretty dire threats to her life which have been deemed credible enough for her to have to move out of a student flat and back home. Let's at least let her finish her education before we start calling her lazy and view everything she does through a PR lens.

 

[Somebody]

I am staggered by the negative view of Amalia. Of course they only see her holidaying, she is still at University, even if she can't live on site in a dorm anymore which is a huge obstacle for her being "part" of varsity life. No swot groups and rushing out for a coffee after hitting the books with friends.

Hopefully she is beavering away at her studies alone at home and perhaps the handicap of not being able to fully participate in university life she will be able to attain her degree early by having a lot of extra time to study.

But that is what is confounding me the most. Almost everyone has written at some time or another about the courses, degrees attained, and languages spoken by heirs and it is seen as essential and yet, here is Amalia, at the ripe old age of almost twenty and being slammed for not being more visible, out in the open doing royal duties, etc.

The woman cannot be in two different places at a time and, forgive me if I am in error, she has had some pretty dire threats to her life which have been deemed credible enough for her to have to move out of a student flat and back home. Let's at least let her finish her education before we start calling her lazy and view everything she does through a PR lens.

I fully agree with your general sentiment. Her pitfall has always been (as confirmed by herself and her father) that she has very high expectations of herself (she's a perfectionist like her grandmother) and therefore runs the risk of being too dutiful in her studies, so I am sure she will graduate with high grades, but I would have wished for more of a social student life for her next to studying.

Just one note: Amalia was never expected to live in a 'dorm'. Students typically are spread out among the city and live either with a few other students (for example from the same student union) in a house or apartment or in larger student accommodations where each student has a private room on a floor with many other students. In both cases the students share kitchen and bathroom(s) - either with the whole house/apartment or with all students on the same floor. Amalia had planned for the first option, sharing a house with a few friends with each of them having their own private room but -most likely- shared facilities.

 

[kalnel]

Don't forget that she DOES royal duties from time to time, in addition to her studies. She accompanied her parents on a trip to the Caribbean a few months ago, and she appeared at the opening of parliament.

I agree with the earlier comment that she seems dutiful in the mold of her grandmother. She has shown a lot of resilience, and I admire her.

 

[Mbruno]

I fully agree with your general sentiment. Her pitfall has always been (as confirmed by herself and her father) that she has very high expectations of herself (she's a perfectionist like her grandmother) and therefore runs the risk of being too dutiful in her studies, so I am sure she will graduate with high grades, but I would have wished for more of a social student life for her next to studying.

Just one note: Amalia was never expected to live in a 'dorm'. Students typically are spread out among the city and live either with a few other students (for example from the same student union) in a house or apartment or in larger student accommodations where each student has a private room on a floor with many other students. In both cases the students share kitchen and bathroom(s) - either with the whole house/apartment or with all students on the same floor. Amalia had planned for the first option, sharing a house with a few friends with each of them having their own private room but -most likely- shared facilities.

How are " larger student accommodations where each student has a private room on a floor with many other students" different from dorms? "Dorms" of course, in Canada, the UK, or the US, are university-owned residential buildings. Is the difference here that the "larger student accommodations" you mentioned are privately rented and neither owned nor managed by the university?

EDIT: Although dorm rooms are often shared with a roommate, there can be private dorm rooms too.

 

[SLV]

Dutch universities generally don't have own studenthousing. You either rent from private owners or from cooperations.

 

[Marengo]

The RF rented a house on the Singel which belongs to the Calella foundation of the Dreesmann family (the family is worth 2 billion Euros according to magazine Quote). Amalia lived there with other students. Indeed it was not provided by the university. The family investments are managed by Marc Dreesmann. His wife Janneke is a friend of the Queen. She was pictured a few years ago in Greece with HM and Mariska Dietz (the friend who accompanied HM to Tilburg last week).

I imagine she will have had a private room. Sharing a room with another student is rather uncommon for students in the Netherlands. There may be some shared spaces in the house such as a kitchen, bathrooms etc.

--
As for the criticism: it is a phenomenon on this forum. I have not read much [or any] criticism in the Dutch press and other media. And certainly not about her not following a training in the army.

 

[kalnel]

I was looking at the video of Princess Beatrix in Curacao today and wishing that Amalia would do some events with her. More than anyone Beatrix seems to have fun doing royal duties, and she certainly has a reputation for her dedication and professionalism. She's such a great role model for Amalia.

 

[Somebody]

Modekoninginmaxima is discussing the various activities Amalia might start undertaking in the next few years:

Aan het werk: wat kan Amalia gaan doen? - Modekoningin Máxima

Vanaf januari 2025 stort prinses Amalia haar toelage van anderhalf miljoen euro per jaar niet meer terug. Volgens premier Rutte zullen we haar dan ook meer te zien krijgen. Wat kan de prinses zoal gaan doen? Een paar suggesties. Over gravin Eloise kun je van alles vinden, maar één ding is haar...

www.modekoninginmaxima.nl

She suggests:
- participating in NL doet (I was kind of expecting the princesses to start doing so when they turned 18)
- getting involved in the Amalia children's hospital
- visiting the school for support animals
- attending National Remembrance Day (Dodenherdenking)
- focusing on topics such as inclusivity and (anti)bullying

Which causes might she concentrate on? In what ways? What are your thoughts?

 

[Alisa]

Your suggestions are all great! You should send them to the royal house
If Amalia does all of that she will be off to a great start. I would also like to see her work with organizations centered around immigrants, the youth, and the Dutch Commonwealth countries.

I say the immigrants because there have been lots of immigration to the Netherlands (Europe in general) and these days it seems as though if they are not from the Ukraine, immigrants get little attention and it should not be that way.

The youth are extremely important. Amalia knows how they think as a young woman herself and she can use that to her advantage and that will help to endear the youth to her as a future sovereign.

It is important to keep the Kingdom united and paying attention to the needs and interests of people from these territories is vital! Not only should regular visits be done but special interest can be taken to ties also at home in the Netherlands. For ex. Amalia can visit or hand out special scholarships for students from the ABC Islands to study at the University of Amsterdam. Or attend a cultural arts show in the Netherlands about life on Saba.

 

[Marengo]

It will be some time before she will actually be a fulltime royal. There will be a master and most likely a post master. But incidental participation in a few handpicked causes -other than Prinsjesdag and King's Day- would be a good way for people to get to know her and for her to know her country. As she lives in Amsterdam it would be good if she could attend state banquest and the diplomatic receptions. But it seems her attendance of the Spanish banquet was incidental.

I think all suggestions were good ones. Esp. the participation in the national remembrance day.. I had the impression the King participated in that early on. But it may be my memory playing tricks on me. Or he simply attended when his father could not, due to the illness.

I never understood why the NLDoet day -highlighting and aiding volunteering organisations - went out like a night candle. In the beginning nearly all members, including the van Vollenhovens, participated. These days it is mainly the King, Queen and Pss Beatrix. The princesses could have participated even before they were 18 IMO. The day could do with a bit of additional attention.

Immigration is not a topic where I imagine a main focus will be. It simpy and unfortunately is too controversial in today's political climate. Members of the court and or the political parties wil remember Máxima's role in the commission PAVEM. A commission about the inclusion of immigrant women. It ended in a debacle for Máxima when she held a speech which was blown out of proportion and context and her participation quickly ended.

As an alternative she could visit more initiatives of the Orange fund, some of them for immigrants. The fund was a wedding gift to her parents and she already interned there during her gap year.

More involvement with the army would be appreciated. But the topic is not at the forefront for the Dutch monarchy or the Dutch state as is the case in some other monarchies. Of course the climate has changed in recent years and after decades of budget cuts the budgets for the military have been greatly increased.

I imagine that when she finishes her studies there will be a special programme that is created where she will 'intern' at/ get to know- various organisations. Parliament, waterschappen, foreign affairs, Brussels even. And a specialization may follow as has been the case for her father with watermanagment and her mother with microcredits and later financial inclusion.

 

[Somebody]

Great points. Regarding NL doet, it seems the van Vollenhovens stoped participating when Bernhard started his Hollandse 100 which also takes place in March - sometimes in the same weekend - and which can count on many of the Van Vollenhoven family participating or supporting.

But the princesses could indeed easily have started joining this initiative at an early age. Would give a great example and is fitting for the volunteering tradition in the Netherlands.