“The Oranges and their Latest Controversies: Alexander Pechtold and Pepijn van Houwelingen Stand Out”

Alexander Pechtold and Pepijn van Houwelingen are the exception

Countess Eloise posed for a television program in a bathing suit with a beached one and TV oracle Angela de Jong found something of that, on which a retired homosexual EO-royalty expert who now works at RTL Boulevard of course also had an opinion about it and eventually if the girl’s father was not missing and meanwhile the inevitable celebrities had also started to interfere by posing en masse in bathing suits.

Ermine Fever

Because where ermine fever strikes, celebrities are never far away. See also the podcast paid for and edited by the Government Information Service Through the eyes of the King in which King Willem-Alexander in ten episodes looking back on ten years of kingship, each episode a year.

Last week, presenter Edwin Evers and the monarch spoke about the disaster year 2020 in which the corona virus struck, the Netherlands went into lockdown, but the monarch and his family went on an autumn holiday to Greece. A bit stupid, says the king now. Evers wants to know about the king’s advisers, was there no one at all who said that this might not be a good plan?

Edwin Evers: But weren’t there people who made the assessment…

King Willem Alexander: A lot of people later said ‘how stupid I was, I’m terribly sorry’.

Edwin Evers: But the point is: were there people who said that in advance?

King Willem Alexander: No. No one.

Edwin Evers: But if no one says so, you are always there yourself. Then something is wrong with the king’s antenna.

King Willem Alexander: The antenna was adjusted to what was possible. And not on what couldn’t be done. And we have always tried to show, with the limitations, what is possible for almost three quarters of a year at that time. And not what can’t.

This conversation gives the impression of a critical subject in conversation with a humble monarch, but nothing could be further from the truth. Evers ignores the fact that earlier that year the monarch and queen were already discredited because they were intimate took a picture with a Greek restaurateur. A year later, the frost broke on the Haagse Marktweg even though the corona rules on the royal boot and 2021 ended with an illegal party in the garden of Huis ten Bosch Palace. No wrongly adjusted antenna, the people could get the royal finger.

Koningin Maxima in de digitale euro

So there are more inconveniences. Last month it was announced that Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag (D66) Queen Máxima had to call to order because of her enthusiasm for the digital euro. That involvement had not escaped the notice of Pepijn van Houwelingen – the only FvD Member of Parliament who does not seem to have completely lost his mind – for some time now. Last year he already asked for clarification, but he was refused by the cabinet, he was recently given to understand; that would only jeopardize ‘the unity of the crown’.

The FvD member therefore rightly requested a debate last Tuesday that could count on the support of PVV, Omtzigt, JA21, BBB and SP. That looked like this:

The debate was thus – without any argument – blocked by the coalition.

This week someone else also tried to make short work of the Oranges: former D66 leader Alexander Pechtold called on his congress to abolish the monarchy completely. With this he went against the party line: the D66 faction in the House of Representatives wants the ceremonial functions of the king to be preserved. And so it happened: the assembled D66’ers rejected the motion.

The people get the House of Orange they deserve (and vice versa)

It seems that the Oranges do not have to worry about the survival of their House for the time being. When a niece of the monarch is under fire, the famous Netherlands comes to the rescue, the king is questioned uncritically by one of them; Edwin Evers. And if it turns out that Queen Máxima seems to be exerting an unhealthy influence on cabinet policy, the government closes the shutters and the coalition jumps into ranks.

The people get the House of Orange they deserve (and vice versa). Orange critics now only know themselves to be represented by controversial figures such as Alexander Pechtold and Pepijn van Houwelingen.

A royal roar of laughter resounds through the corridors of the palace.