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August 2009
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Akishino & Kiko Continue Dutch Visit

Reuters

Reuters

Japan’s Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko continued their week long tour of the Netherlands. On Tuesday, they met with Dutch political leaders, and royalty.

First, the couple met with Prince Constantijn and his wife, Princess Laurentien in The Hague at the Royal Library. There, the Dutch royals showed their Japanese counterparts the exhibit, “From Here to Tokyo,” which celebrates 400 years of trade relations between the two countries.  Constantijn and Akishino posed for the media displaying their commemorative coins.

Constantijn and Laurentien were the ones who met with the Japanese royals at this exhibit likely because of Princess Laurentien, who spent part of her youth in Japan. Her father was head of the European Community office.

Reuters

Reuters

Later on, Akishino and Kiko met with Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, and held talks with the Dutch head of government. Throughout the whole day, Princess Kiko was dressed in a traditional kimono.

Tuesday is the only day for the Japanese royals to have official visits. Previously, and for the rest of their stay, they will be on private tours around the Netherlands.

Danish Royal Family to Get a Raise

Despite hard economic times, the Danish government will increase their budget and the salary of the House of Glucksburg. The increase will be at 2.7 percent, or 95.5 million kroner (18.4 million dollars) from taxpayers.

Getty Images

Getty Images

All members of the royal family will receive more money. However, it is the Crown Princely couple – Frederik and Mary – who will see the biggest raise. Their pay will increase 400,000 kroner to 17.6 million.

Meanwhile, Queen Margrethe II, Prince Henrik, and the Queen’s sister Princess Benedikte together will see a raise of 1.9 million. The Queen will get 63 million kroner, while her husband gets 7.1 million and Benedikte gets 1.1 million.

Prince Joachim will have 3.1 million more in his wallet. His former wife, Alexandra the Countess of Frederiksborg, will also see a an increase of 2.1 million, but since she is now a private citizen, she would be taxed. It is not known how much Joachim’s second wife, Princess Marie, would receive.

If this sounds like a lot during a global economic recession, the Danish media is reporting last year, the average Dane’s wages went up 5 percent.

However, recent polls have shown a decrease in popularity for the Danish royals. Whether or not a salary raise would affect them remains to be seen.