The Netherlands’ Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Maxima marked a decade of marriage Thursday. Though the couple celebrated privately, many Dutch reflected on the royal wedding that took place on 02-02-02.
When it was announced that the heir to the Dutch throne was marrying Argentinian born Maxima Zorreguieta, there was immediate controversy. Maxima’s father, Jorge, was a member of the Argentine junta, or dictatorship. Parliament prevented Mr. Zorreguieta from going to his daughter’s wedding, something that of course saddened Maxima.
But she did have something to smile about. The Dutch had already accepted her as their future Queen due to her zest for life and bright smile. Prior to her wedding, she was toured Holland with Willem Alexander as an introduction to the Dutch people.
Since then, Willem Alexander and Maxima have become the parents of three daughters – Princess Catharina-Amalia 8 years old, Princess Alexia, 6 years and Princess Ariane, 4 years. The couple represent their country along with Queen Beatrix.
Below are two videos – one of the wedding ceremony, the other of the balcony scene and its many kisses!
On Saturday, the Dutch crown princely couple took their three daughters to the Jumping Amsterdam, a horse jumping show. It was a rare opportunity for royal fans to see all three of the princesses beyond a photo session with the media.
Catharina-Amalia, age 8, Alexia, 6 years old and 4 year old Ariane cheered for horses during the competition. Amalia, who is second in line to the Dutch throne, was very expressive, showcasing that while she may resemble her father, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, she has the facial expressions of her mother, Princess Maxima.
Both parents also displayed much attention to their three children. At one point, Willem Alexander was seen hugging his eldest, while Maxima kept the other two close by. Keep in mind, with their duties taking them abroad sometimes, family moments like this one probably don’t come very often for these Dutch royals.
It was announced Monday that the future King and Queen of the Netherlands have sold their controversial villa in Mozambique.
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Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima spent two years trying to sell the vacation spot, which they never used. They struggled to sell it because of the troubled real estate market.
The villa was sold on January 11th to Machangulo SA which runs the development where it is located. The exact pricing was not revealed.
There was plenty of controversy surrounding this vacation spot. Many accused the couple of being like colonialists because their villa would be in an impoverished southern African country where the local population would not have benefited from it. Furthermore, there were accusations of environmental damage.
With the selling of this villa, the royals now, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, have “nothing more to do with the project in Mozambique”.
The Dutch royal trio went on a three day state visit to the Sultanate of Oman. Originally scheduled last year, the trip was put off for this year due to the Arab Spring protests in the country.
Click here for photos of the visit to Oman
Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed greeted Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima on Tuesday at Al Alam Palace in Muscat. National anthems of Oman and the Netherlands were played, followed by a 21 gun salute welcoming the Dutch royals.
Their Majesties then went indoors for bilateral talks, followed by a lunch at the Beit al Zhubair museum.
In the evening, there was a state banquet hosted by the Sultan in honor of the Dutch royals. They also exchanged orders. The Sultan bestowed the Order of Al Said on the Queen while she conferred the Order of the Netherlands Lion to him.
Even Willem Alexander and Maxima received orders. The Dutch heir was bestowed the Great Order of Renaissance while his wife got the the Sultan Qaboos Order.
The next day saw the royals go to the Port of Sohar, where they were given a tour of its eco-friendly, industrial projects. They also went to the Sohar Free Zone, where they saw joint Omani-Dutch projects.
Next came Nakhl Fort, where the visiting royals were greeted by music and the children of the Omani Women’s Association of Nakhl with flowers and Omani and Dutch flags. The Queen, the Crown Prince and Princess were briefed about the fort by the students, and then later were shown Omani crafts.
Thursday morning concluded the state visit for the Dutch royals. They met with Sultan Qaboos again in Muscat who bid them farewell.
Sources: Gulf News, Times of Oman, Omani News Agency
On Sunday, the Dutch royal trio – Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima – began their two day state visit to the United Arab Emirates. They arrived the previous night, but began their agenda Sunday.
Click here for recent pics of Queen Beatrix
The royals were greeted at the Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE. There was a 21 gun salute in honor of the Queen, her son and daughter in law.
An exchange of honors took place between the Sheikh and Her Majesty. His Highness the Sheikh gave Beatrix the Order of Zayed, one of the United Arab Emirates’ highest civil decorations given to kings and heads of state. In return the Queen gave him one of the Netherlands’ highest orders.
Also on Sunday, the Dutch royals toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The Queen donned a long black dress and wore a blue scarf over her hat while Princess Maxima wore a caftan and a headscarf. This caused a bit of a uproar back in the Netherlands.
“Not to have worn one during a visit to a mosque wasn’t an option. In that case, the invitation to visit to the mosque, one of the most important in the United Arab Emirates, would have to have been refused,” explained Foreign Minister Ufi Rosenthal.
However, the Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders, complained that Beatrix was legitimizing Islam’s oppression of women. In response, Green Left MP Tofik Dibi, called Wilders’ comments a waste of time.
For Monday, the royals the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and met with officials and senior managements of companies that specialize in oil and petroleum. Since the Netherlands have their own oil industry – Shell – this was an obvious part of their agenda.
The Dutch trio then went to Masdar, where they met with Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, for a round table discussion on tightening Dutch-UAE relations.
“This meeting builds on an historic relationship,” said the Sheikha. “Trade was always considered the most important factor for relations between the Netherlands and the UAE, and these ties continue to become stronger today. In fact, most people would be surprised to know that the Netherlands’ ties with the Arab world date back more than three centuries.”
That concluded the Dutch state visit to the UAE. Tuesday will see the same trio go to Oman for another state visit.
This visit was historic for Queen Beatrix. This was her 50th state visit since her ascension to the throne in 1980.
Sources: Khaleej Times, Radio Netherlands, WAM, Dutch News
This Thursday saw Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands inaugurated a Fujifilm Factory in the town of Tilburg.
His Royal Highness officiated the opening not by cutting a ribbon, but by stepping his foot into green clay along with CEO Shigetaka Komori. The two did this to demonstrate that the new factory is 100 percent CO2 neutral.
The plant cost 100 million euros and is the most modern factory for production of offset plates.
On Tuesday, the royals of the Netherlands welcomed President Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali to their country. The president and his wife, Lobbo Traore, are on a three day state visit. It comes within days of news of a Dutchman being kidnapped in Mali.
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President Touré mentioned the kidnapping in his speech during the state banquet at the Royal Palace Noordeinde at The Hague. He told the Dutch people that he is “terribly sorry that this happened”. He also promised to help the situation.
Her Majesty Queen Beatrix thanked Touré for his apology, saying “I appreciate very much that you personally spoken in response to your horror over the terrible incident.”
She added, “We all hope for a good outcome.”
The Dutch national, who’s name is unknown, was abducted at a restaurant in Timbuktu along with two others, a Swede and a South African.
Before the state banquet, the President and his wife were received by Queen Beatrix during a welcoming ceremony. Later on, Touré met with members of Parliament and even gave a speech discussing the economic developments of Mali.
The Dutch Caribbean will be getting the royal treatment for ten days. Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Maxima are on tour of the islands that are constituent countries of the Netherlands. They include Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the former Dutch Antilles. The royal trio began their visit Thursday in Aruba.
See more photos here at Daylife.com
Arriving in Oranjestad, the Dutch royals were greeted by Prime Minister Mike Eman. There was a private dinner hosted by Governor Fredis Refunjol before the Queen, her son and her daughter-in-law began their agenda.
That included taking part in the Fiesta Popular held at Linear Park, which showcases the island’s diverse cultures. The royals marched in the parade along with beauty queens and dancers wearing fabulous headgear.
For the rest of their Aruba visit, the Queen, Willem Alexander and Maxima will be shown Arikok National Park, see the“Bo Bario” beautification project in the Juwana Morto section of San Nicolas. The Queen and Maxima then will visit a foundation for battered women while Willem Alexander will meet with the Aruba Green Energy Conference. After that, the royals will head to Bonaire, formerly part of the Dutch Antilles, now a Dutch municipality.
There has been some unhappy sentiment in the former Antilles over its breakup. It is expected there will be protests and flashes of anger towards Queen Beatrix as she tours those islands, which are Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba.
“The Queen is above politics,” says an organizer of a protest. “She can say and do everything, and change the laws.”
Another place where the royals won’t be seeing many joyousness over their visit is Curaçao, where there has been an increase in anti-Dutch sentiment. Some parliamentarians back in the Netherlands suggested the Queen not go to that island, but ever true to their royal roles, Beatrix, Willem-Alexander and Maxima will go to Curaçao.
On Friday, Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander attended the Global Water Partnership in Stockholm. The meeting was marking 15 years since GWP originally met in 1996. Willem Alexander has been advocate for clean water and proper sanitation for a long while, and has been a patron of GWP since 1998.
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At this year’s event, he gave a speech concerning water and sanitation.
“Today you truly have a global reach, and are active in every corner of the world. Your partners work for government, businesses and NGOs. Members of the GWP family come from different sectors and traditions but they are united by this concern – how can we develop, manage and share our increasingly scarce supplies of water,” the Crown Prince said.
“Our central message focuses on basic sanitation. Despite impressive development gains since 2000, we are simply not making enough progress – 2.6 billion continue to lack adequate sanitation but also the knowledge to understand the importance of sanitation to their potential development and dignity.
“We are not keeping pace with demographic growth, which means that according to current trends, by 2015, more people, not fewer, will lack safe sanitation facilities. Daunting statistics, and behind them, immeasurable human suffering, a disheartening case of global inequity, lost opportunities for economic growth, and growing environmental degradation.
Willem Alexander went on to talk about the importance for clean water and the need to provide it.
“There is no wastewater, only water that is wasted! This is a concept we all need to promote. To achieve water security we must share the common view that wastewater is a resource. It is a resource that deserves more attention from politicians, decision-makers, and policy planners.
“Let’s all join in a concerted effort to ensure polluted water is treated before it’s returned to the environment. But we need a 21st century model. Business as usual is not the answer. Over-engineered massive trunk and branch systems which are prohibitively expensive, difficult to maintain and prone to break-downs are not the answer. Given the mind-boggling price tags for many of these systems, it is not surprising that often the work never even gets started.
“21st century systems should employ cascading use,” Willem Alexander said. “Cleaning water for drinking and personal hygiene, cascading down to grey water which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for industrial use, environmental recharge or agricultural. Do you know that about 50 million hectares of agriculture currently depends on wastewater? We have to expand this practice while doing it better by promoting the guidelines of WHO for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater in agriculture.”
He then discussed how the issue of water is affecting places such as Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa.
“Flooding is on the rise causing immeasurable human suffering along with devastating economic impacts. Last year flooding in Pakistan along the Indus River severely affected 20 million people with an economic impact of nearly $10 billion U.S. dollars. By the way, this week more than 700 thousand people have been affected by rain and floods in Pakistan and we hardly even hear about it in our media anymore!
“Sub-Saharan Africa is already encountering increased temperatures and evaporation rates, greater rainfall variability along with more pests and diseases. In this region we have proof that Gross Domestic Product and rainfall are closely correlated, with GDP falling dramatically in drought years, as well as in flood years. As we sit here today, drought is contributing to a terrible tragedy in the Horn of Africa. Some 10 million people are at risk in this region as two years of drought and poor governance have forced food prices beyond the reach of most families.
“In South Asia, an overwhelming 85% of total water use goes towards agricultural needs. At the same time, agriculture is also an extremely inefficient user of water: water productivity, measured as crop per drop, is one of the lowest in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, 97% of agricultural production is dependent on rainfall and only 3% of the cultivated area is irrigated. This has led to urgent calls for greater investment both by governments and donors.”
At the close of his speech, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander thanked the GWP for its hardwork and pointed out how the Partnership has grown and could affect the future.
On Monday, the Dutch crown princely couple allowed the media to photograph their three daughters – Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane. This year’s photoshoot was done at Queen Beatrix’s Italian estate in Tavernelle.
The exciting part of this year’s session was that all three of the girls wore their own summer dress. In previous years, they all dressed alike. But clearly the princesses are getting too old for that.
Queen Beatrix did sit with her eldest son’s family and at one point, even got out her own camera and shot away along with the media!
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