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 Click here for more photos 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. Source: RTL, Brabant Dagbladet On Wednesday night, the Duchess of Cambridge did her first solo engagement at a charity reception at Clarence House. Catherine was stepping in for her father-in-law, Prince Charles, who had to fly to Saudi Arabia to offer his condolences over the death of Crown Prince Sultan.  See more photos of the Duchess here Dressed in a pale blue gown, Catherine mingled with the 30 members of the Kind Direct charity during the dinner. The charity was set up by the Prince of Wales in 1996 and it redistributes surplus goods from manufacturers and retailers to charities. The Chief Executive of Kind Direct said this about the new royal: “We were delighted that the Duchess was able to step in at such short notice after our founder was unexpectedly called away. “The Duchess hosted a very special evening with absolute professionalism and charm.” According to St. James Palace, Catherine “was so pleased that her first solo engagement was for the Prince of Wales, who has shown her so much support over the years.” Before last night, it was widely reported that the Duchess would not perform any solo duties until 2012. That way, she could ease into royal life following her April wedding to Prince William. But the couple will be making more appearances in the coming days. Next week, they’ll be in Copenhagen for a UNICEF event with Denmark’s Crown Princely couple. Sources: Hello!, BBC Royal watchers and the Dutch media have noticed that the next King and Queen of the Netherlands have increased their number of engagements in 2010 compared to 2009. At the same time, its been noticeable that Queen Beatrix has reduced her duties this year.  REUTERS/Sebastien Pirlet/FILE According to De Telegraaf, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander had over 70 public appearances in 2010, rather than the 40 he did in 2009. Princess Maxima had almost 90 appointments in the Netherlands, compared with 60 in 2009. She also has traveled abroad more than her husband, though that could be because of her work on behalf of the U.N. More than once a week, the couple can be found somewhere in their country, according to a summary of the visits over the past two years. The noticing of this trend of the royal couple doing more work on behalf of the royal family may spur more rumors that Queen Beatrix may abdicate the throne in favor of Willem-Alexander. She has been Queen of the Netherlands for 30 years in 2010. Source: De Telegraaf  Jan Bouwhuis/De Gelderlander Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the Netherlands’ Royal Fruit Parade in Tiel. As expected, Crown Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima were scheduled to attend. But what the public didn’t know until the last minute was that they were bringing their three young daughters with them for their first official engagement. Princesses Catharina-Amalia, age 6 1/2, Alexia, 5 years old, and Ariane, 3 years of age, stole the show as they sat in the middle of the estimated 100,000 visitors to enjoy delicious apples and other fruit, be enthralled by the parade’s many decorated cars, and they made a walk on part of the parade’s route. It was all done to get the girls used to public life and official duties. Source: De Gelderlander On Tuesday, Crown Princess Letizia made her first official visit to the Castille region of Spain. She was there to inaugurate the restored Zamora Castle.  Castillo Noticias As she arrived, the Princess of Asturias stopped to say hello and shake hands with the large crowds that gathered to see her. Among the crowds were several groups dressed in local costumes. Once on castle grounds, Letizia unveiled a plaque to commemorate the restoration of Zamora. It took four years and 7.6 million Euros to salvage the castle. In the process, archaelogical pieces from the Bronze Age were discovered, helping researchers better understand the development of Castille. The Crown Princess was given a tour of the medieval fortress, which has breath-taking views of the area. At Madrid’s San Pablo University yesterday, Crown Princess Letizia was on hand to inaugurate a European conference on the effects of technology on children.  Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe The conference, which drew about 120 researchers from Spain and throughout Europe, questioned whether modern technology will or will not harm children’s development. “Who will ultimately accompany the child in their growth in their overall development, are the parents, and are more concerned to find elements in new technologies that help people become responsible, intelligent, open, generous citizens solidarity and mature beings capable of putting yourself in the other,” Letizia said in her opening speech. “Therefore, this seminar is of so much interest and has so much to offer, because the whole society, not just parents, are responsible for training these human beings who are the children,” stated the Crown Princess, who said how children “eagerly receive all that is broadcasted in the communication environments.” The conference discussed the issue of children and technology in three steps: the first was how to protect young people from new technology, the second was how to deal with new technology and education. The last topic was about the review of regulations to protect children. The UK’s Prince William showed enthusiasm today as he opened the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum.  Reuters He did, however, seemed less than enthusiastic when asked to hold a large, hairy tarantula just before the official opening. The arachnid, an eight-inch wide Mexican Red Kneed named Sarah, was being shown to children at the Attenborough Studio when its minders politely asked the Prince if he would like to hold her. “Ooh, I would love to,” William said, though he certainly didn’t sound like it. But he did hold the tarantula calmly for about a minute. The Prince later joked about his experience when he opened the Darwin Centre. “Just to warn you,” he told the audience, “that there is a spider loose somewhere in the Cocoon. It was given to me, and I seem to have lost it. If you see it, it goes by the name of Sarah.” William admitted he was “petrified” as he held Sarah. The Natural History Museum’s Darwin Centre is a new 78 million pound section dedicated to the work of Charles Darwin. Both Prince William and naturalist Sir David Attenborough officially opened it. “I remember coming here first as a child with my mother,” the Prince said in his speech. “Millions of others will have shared with me that same sense of awe and wonder and just a shiver of something more as you step off the street, through the doors, to stare into the beady eye of the blue whale or the terrifying eye socket of a T. Rex. A moment never to be forgotten — especially when everything is a lot bigger than you.” At one point during the centre’s opening, William stopped by the laboratory, put on a white coat and gloves and was given a demonstration on how scientists work with mosquitoes in order to fight diseases such as malaria. After three weeks vacationing in Mallorca, Greece and Turkey, Spain’s Crown Princely couple got back to work at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid today. They received two separate audiences, one the women’s handball team, and the second was with leaders of Spain’s Romanian community. Sporting a new beard, Crown Prince Felipe congratulated the handball team’s – Itaxako Reyka de Navarra- victory at this year’s EHF Cup. The team was accompanied by the President of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation (RFEBM), Juan de Dios Román Afterwards, Felipe and Letizia received members of Spain’s 700,000 Romanian community. They spoke to Mr. Daniel Cosmin Comanita, the chairman of the Romanian Association of Spain, and shared with him their views of Romania, a country they visited just before they went on vacation in late July. It is believed that the Romanian immigrant community is Spain’s largest. In addition to the aforementioned audiences, Felipe also received today the XII Corps Promotion of Senior Officials and State Auditors Comptrollers and a performance of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Briviesca to mark the centenary of this institution Burgos.
When Maxima arrived in Venray, large crowds greeted her. She then was taken inside to meet with the volunteers and the families involved with Home-Start. Home-Start helps parents with children under the age of six. It is dedicated to providing services and friendships to new families so normally short term problems become long lasting. In its fifteen years, 6,200 volunteers from Home-Start supported over 14,500 families across the Netherlands. Friday marked five years of marriage for Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia.
But despite the need the celebrate, the couple spent the day doing their royal duties, something Felipe promised they would do when they wed five years earlier. “The commitment that today Letizia and I have assumed, transcends of the merely personal commitment. Since that I was a child, I’ve been very aware of my institutional responsibilities and the loyalty to the King and the sense of duty has guided my life. So I’m happy that, from today, Letizia joins me to this project with conviction and responsibility… Your Majesty, you can be sure that we will always think about Spain and that all our common life will be devote to the well-being of the Spaniards,” Felipe said during his wedding speech. So, the two lived up to their devotion to duty by attending the Caja Madrid Foundation ceremony, in which 200 postgraduate students received scholarships to study abroad. Caja Madrid is something that interest the Prince of Asturias. Since 2000, 677 students have been able to study at major universities in the United States, Canada and Europe. During the ceremony, Felipe admitted that he still felt the same love, the same enthusiasm and commitment to Letizia as he did when they stood at the altar at Almuneda Cathedral. |
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On Tuesday, Holland’s Crown Princess Maxima traveled to Venray to the headquarters of a community service organization called Home-Start. The project was celebrating 15 years of activity.
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