The summer photo session of King Willem-Alexander (54), Queen Máxima (50) and the princesses Amalia (17), Alexia (16) and Ariane (14) is different this year from other years. The king indicates that he is there with mixed feelings, because of the death of Peter R. de Vries and the disaster that is now unfolding in Limburg. The king and queen talk about it during the press moment, but also get some more light-hearted questions about their holiday and their family. This is what we all learned about the princesses.
“If you have children, they are not yours but you have the responsibility to prepare them for the rest of life”
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The lives of the members of the royal family are under a huge magnifying glass. They can assist the people in difficult times, but if they make a mistake – for example a trip to Greece – the country is too small. The king is used to it by now and has learned over the years how to deal with it. Does that also apply to his daughters? Máxima says: “That is very nice of the Netherlands and we are very grateful for that. That our daughters’ privacy is really respected. They can go to school by bike, play hockey, go out now and then. It is best to lead a normal life and that is so important to us.”
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Graduation
Princess Amalia passed her VWO final exam a few weeks ago. The graduation ceremony took place yesterday. A special and emotional moment, says the king. “Despite corona, they had invested a lot of energy to make it something beautiful. (…) She was spoken to so very well and sweetly. It was just very emotional.” Little girls grow up and so does our Princess of Orange. “It’s like yesterday that she entered the Bloemcampschool on our hand and now she walks out of another school with a diploma on the same hand.”
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Image © ANP
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Also see:
Máxima grateful for time with princesses
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Amalia passed her final exam cum laude. Something that Máxima saw coming. “Her grades were pretty good,” she laughs. “Very proud of her. She has worked very hard.” The Queen takes off her hat – or hat – to all students who have found the motivation, strength and energy to take exams in corona time. “Not just our daughter, but all the children in the Netherlands. Really bravo!”
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Stages
The princess’s gap year is also discussed. Does Amalia already know what she wants to do next year? “Corona still plays a major role there,” explains the king. According to him, it is difficult to make agreements about a possible internship because it is not yet clear to many companies how it works exactly with working from home. “It makes little sense to do an internship behind a screen. So we are still puzzling and watching.”
So the plans are not concrete yet. It is clear, however, that companies at home and abroad are being looked at.
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18th birthday
At the end of this year, the princess will turn 18 and a lot will change for her. King Willem-Alexander: “With her eighteenth birthday she is not only of legal age, but also constitutionally of age. From that moment on she can also succeed and she must also prepare for that.” According to the king, Amalia will be more visible from her eighteenth birthday and perform more tasks.
“This is incidental during her studies,” says Willem-Alexander. He himself sometimes had to represent his own mother abroad. “I can imagine it going that way too.”
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Also see:
Candid princess Alexia: ‘A lot of quarrels come from this at home’
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Empty nest
Not only Amalia will soon leave the nest, Alexia will also leave soon abroad. She will attend Atlantic College in Wales from next year. “We are confident that they will do well,” Máxima says of her daughters. “They still have a mother and father at home. If there is a problem, we are always available.”
The king mainly tells his daughters that they should enjoy themselves and make friends. “Because the friends you make now, you make for life. And be open to other people.” Alexia in particular gets this opportunity now that she goes to an international school with students from different cultural backgrounds. “He will experience all those different cultures, day and night. I experienced that myself. When you are 16 you know yourself enough, but you are still open like a sponge to take in influences from outside. have now are fantastic.”
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Image © ANP
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When asked whether the royal couple finds it difficult that two of their daughters leave the nest, the king responds: “If you have children, they are not yours but you have the responsibility to prepare them for the rest of life. There are We’ve been on it and I think in a way they really want to come back.”
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Princess Leonor
Princess Alexia isn’t the only royal to attend Atlantic College next year. The Spanish princess Leonor is also one of the students. “We didn’t hear about that until Alexia had already been hired. That was a total surprise for us. But I’m sure they will get along well and I think it’s fantastic that the Crown Princess of Spain has come through the selection process all on her own and chosen They didn’t know who it was until she had to appear for an interview at the last minute.” Alexia and Leonor know each other, but not very well.
Alexia has not yet visited the school, this is due to the corona measures. “I am sorry that I did not go to that school with her because of corona. She has not seen it herself at all. She only knows it from stories and photos,” explains the king.
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Also read:
Princess Amalia waives a benefit of more than 1.6 million during her studies
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Social media
During the round of questions, people were also briefly asked about Countess Eloise, the king’s niece. She has a public Instagram account and the question is, of course, whether one of the princesses would want that too. “They have a lot of freedoms and they choose not to do that,” explains Máxima. The king adds: “They use social media a lot and have had to learn how to deal with it.” He is proud of the way they handle social media.
According to Máxima, this could change in the future, for example if they want to draw attention to a certain subject. “If they want to save something or change something in the world, they will certainly take advantage of it.”
When asked if the royal couple is also following Eloise, the queen responds resolutely: “No, I do not follow her.”
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And now on to Greece, where the family is on holiday in their holiday villa with a speedboat. Because according to our king, he experiences real freedom when the five of them float on the water, without personnel and security.
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