Amalia between her parents Willem-Alexander and Máxima. — © BELGAIMAGE
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At the birthday party of the Dutch crown princess Amalia (18), the corona rules were “largely exceeded”. The newspaper De Telegraaf discovered this. While the Dutch are only allowed to receive four people, there were probably dozens of guests. After questions from De Telegraaf, King Willem-Alexander admitted that “on closer inspection it was not good to organize this”.
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Wim Dehandschieter
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Amalia, the eldest daughter and heir to the throne of King Willem-Alexander, turned 18 last week. That is why a party was organized last Saturday in the park behind Huis ten Bosch Palace, the spacious home of Willem-Alexander and his family in The Hague.
De Telegraaf writes that there were about a hundred guests. The Government Information Service, which is responsible for the communication of the royal family, has limited it to 21 invitations, and not everyone would have turned up. In the Netherlands, a family may receive no more than four people per day. And that rule also applied to Amalia’s birthday.
“All guests have been asked to take a test. All were vaccinated. They have also kept an appropriate distance,” says the Government Information Service.
first speech
Amalia’s eighteenth birthday, Tuesday last week, was big news in the Netherlands at the time. New official photos of the Crown Princess were released, and she was installed in the Council of State the next day. She also gave her first speech there.
The commotion about her birthday party is painful, because the Dutch royal family was already regularly under fire during the corona crisis. In the summer of 2020, for example, they went on holiday in Greece with a restaurant owner, without wearing a mouth mask and without keeping a meter and a half away.
![Willem-Alexander apologized after his family holiday to Greece.](https://i0.wp.com/img.gva.be/LneL-RcYakvdzKg_89WFmVfmVwU=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.gva.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2021%2F12%2F15%2F484326e6-2f14-40ed-ae96-78f41f7d9f4c.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
Willem-Alexander apologized after his family holiday to Greece. — © Rob Engelaar
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Excuses
A few months later they flew again to Greece, while the Dutch had been asked not to travel. Willem-Alexander and his family immediately returned home. The king then apologized in a video message.
The purchase of an expensive speedboat, while many Dutch people had encountered financial difficulties in the pandemic, also raised eyebrows.
There was again a fuss when Willem-Alexander visited a street during the European Championship and shook hands, as if there was no corona.
![Willem-Alexander at a celebration at the European Football Championship.](https://i0.wp.com/img.gva.be/ZjlSKERKzsqafqW3EFYlp9HSmpk=/fit-in/960x640/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.gva.be%2FAssets%2FImages_Upload%2F2021%2F12%2F15%2F98a2cd97-29be-4bbd-8d8c-2143a72e180b.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
Willem-Alexander at a celebration at the European Football Championship. — © BELGAIMAGE
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