For the book, writer Claudia de Breij met the crown princess several times last year. Today the book comes out, our Royal House reporter Sander Paulus was able to read it before. What will we find out about our upcoming frost?
“We don’t learn a lot of new things,” says Sander Paulus. “It is mainly a coloring of what we already knew. What is striking when you read the book is that Amalia is busy with what she shares with the outside world, and especially with what she does not share.”
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Singing skills of the crown princess
For example, De Breij describes Amalia’s singing skills in the book. The comedian thinks that the crown princess has a very beautiful voice, and knows how to use it well. But Amalia says she consciously chooses never to sing in public, not even when it comes to a sound check for King’s Day, for example.
A passage from the book about this:
Singing is something I keep to myself, she says. Because if you make that public, you will lose a part. Then I have the idea that people can demand that from me. Make me do things I don’t want to.
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Furthermore, according to Sander Paulus, the book is very much a coloring of the image we already had of Amalia. “During short moments on, for example, King’s Day, it sometimes dawned on me that Amalia is very perfectionist. And also that she can occasionally counteract.”
We often see this perfectionist attitude in the book. For example, the pressure to perform at the start of her secondary school career turned out to be a bit too much, she felt she always had to come home with tens. Then she had to promise her parents ‘not to come home with grades higher than a nine’.
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Talking to psychologist
We also learn that as a child, Amalia talked to a child psychologist a few times. And even as an almost adult, she still sometimes seeks the advice of a professional.
She says this about it:
‘I don’t think it’s taboo. And no problem saying that in public. Sometimes it all gets too much for me, school, friends, and then I talk to someone. If I need it, I’ll make an appointment. Just vent, and then I’ll be ready for another month. Talking to a professional now and then is quite normal, especially after what happened to my aunt’.
“I really see this as her first act as a crown princess,” says Sander Paulus. “She wants to speak up for mental health here without reservation. It’s impressive because she knows what she’s talking about after what happened to Ines Zorreguieta, her aunt, Queen Máxima’s younger sister. Feeling good mentally is important, and seeking help is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Ines Zorreguieta made in 2018 presumably himself an end to her life.
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Grateful for the privacy
Amalia also talks in the book about the fact that her parents kept her away from official duties, and the press as much as possible. She likes that she has that space. She is now recognized a little more often, through short appearances on television, but understands that this will only become more.
‘Of course it will soon be so. Then everyone looks at you like you have a goldfish on your head. That’s already the case when I go into town with Mama.’
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When Amalia was fourteen years old, she says she ‘reconciled’ with her future. With the idea that her future is actually already set. But she also seems a bit apprehensive about it.
Sander Paulus: “When asked whether she has already embraced her fate, she says that she has not yet. There would first be a wall that she had to cross.” Amalia says in the book: “Only behind that wall can I maybe embrace something.”
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Protect from oneself
What else stands out in the book? Sander Paulus: “A lot of topics are touched upon, but few topics are worked out. That makes it all a bit light-hearted. De Breij also says that she is not a journalist and wants to protect Amalia a bit from herself. it’s about boys, marriage and children. Any preference for the same sex seems to be gone, even though there was enough to do about it recently.”
What is the image you get of Amalia after reading this book? Paulus: “Everything shows that Amalia is a smart young woman, who is very aware of what is coming for her. And that she also has the necessary dose of humor.”
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