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NOS News••Amended
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Amalia have arrived on Bonaire, the starting point of their tour of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The royal family was welcomed by Edison Rijna, the island’s lieutenant governor.
The three will stay on Bonaire until Monday morning, where they will visit the so-called slave houses, among other things. Enslaved people who had to work on the salt pans slept there. The small houses were built in 1850 and symbolize the history of slavery on the island.
Attention to slavery history
After Bonaire, Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Amalia will travel successively to Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba. In Curaçao they will visit country house Knip, on the former plantation where resistance leader Tula unleashed a major revolt in 1795.
The Oranges also reflect on the island’s slavery past on St. Eustatius. The Government Information Service had previously announced that this theme would be central to the royal visit to the Caribbean.
The Oranjes arrived at Bonaire airport around 4:30 p.m. local time on Friday. King Willem-Alexander, who has a pilot’s license, was in the cockpit as a co-pilot as usual:
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In addition to activities related to the slavery past, the royal party also visits sports institutions, cultural organizations and nature parks. Their visit to Sint Maarten is mainly devoted to the reconstruction of the island after the devastating hurricane Irma in 2017.
Thursday 9 February is the last day of the trip, which is intended, among other things, to introduce Princess Amalia to the Caribbean. It is the crown princess’s first official trip.
State Secretary Van Huffelen for Kingdom Relations and Digitization will travel with the royal party.
