Máxima at the Opening of the Women Inc. Festival

Princess Máxima attended the opening of the Women Inc. Festival yesterday, at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam - not too far from where Máxima and her husband, Prince Willem-Alexander, had their civil wedding service in February 2002.

PPE Picture Gallery

ANP Picture Gallery

Copyright: PPE/Nieboer

December 2007 Calender

December 2007 Calender for the Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Royal Families

December 1: NED – Máxima will attend the Women Inc. Festival
December 1: NOR – Sonja will open the Bridge which will connect Lofoten to the Mainland
December 2-9: DEN – Frederik is Regent
December 3: NOR – 2nd Birthday of Sverre Magnus
December 3: NOR – Harald grants an audience to the Chief of the Naval Staff and the sculptor Skule Walsvik (appointed Officer of the Order of St Olav)
December 3: NOR – Harald hosts a Luncheon for the Council Members of The Order of St Olav
December 3-4: NED – Willem-Alexander will attend the Asia Pacific Water Summit in Japan
December 4: NED – Máxima, together with Princess Mathilde of Belgium, will receive the Overview of the Art of Painting
December 4: NOR – Harald, Sonja, Haakon and Mette-Marit host a Dinner for the County Governors
December 6: NOR – Harald grants an audience to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
December 6: NOR – Harald, Sonja, Haakon and Mette-Marit host a Dinner for the Members of the Supreme Court
December 7: NED – 4th Birthday of Catharina-Amalia
December 7: NOR – Harald attends the Council of State
December 7: NOR – Haakon grants an audience to representatives of the Wergeland Year 2008
December 7: NOR – Harald grants an audience to Marie Aakre (appointed Officer of the Order of St Olav)
December 8: DEN – Mary attends a Christmas Concert by the Royal Danish Children’s Choir
December 10: NED – Catharina-Amalia will attend her first day of kindergarten
December 10: DEN – Mary visits the Rådmandsgades School
December 10: DEN – Mary attends a celebration of the 60th year of the United Nations’ World Declaration for Human Rights
December 11: DEN – Frederik opens the exhibition Danmark-ekspedition
December 12: DEN – Frederik visits the Korshærs Church's Christmas Distribution
December 12: DEN – Frederik participates in arrangement at the Royal Danish Geographic Society
December 12: NED – Beatrix, Willem-Alexander, Máxima, Constantijn and Laurentien will attend the Prince Claus Awards Ceremony
December 24-25: DEN – Margrethe, Henrik, Frederik, Mary, Christian, Isabella and Joachim will celebrate Christmas at Marselisborg Palace
December 25: NED – 38th Birthday of Bernhard Jr

Willem-Alexander's 40th Birthday Party

The Prince of Orange - Willem-Alexander - hosted a belated birthday party celebrating his 40th year on Saturday September 1st. The party was held at Het Loo Palace, and went well into the night.The birthday boy arrived in a horse-drawn carriage with his wife, Princess Máxima, and their three daughters - Princess Catharina-Amalia (3 and a half years), Princess Alexia (27 months) and Princess Ariane (4 and a half months). The Prince's eldest daughter had a slight accident when the carriage pulled to a stop (see video), but otherwise all three girls were as cute as buttons in pink gowns. The other guests arrived via the Royal Bus.

The Prince's mother, Queen Beatrix, and brother's Constantijn and Friso - with wives Laurentien and Mabel - were also in attendance. Other family members invited were Willem-Alexander's aunt, Princess Margriet, and uncle Pieter van Vollenhoven; their children Maurits and wife Marilène, Bernhard Jr and wife Annette, Pieter-Christiaan and wife Anita, and Floris with his pregnant wife Aimée. Máxima's parents, Jorge Zorreguieta and Carmen Cerrutti, and brother Martin were also in attendance; as well as plenty of royal guests including Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathile of Belgium, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia, Infanta Cristina and Inaki Urdangarin of Spain.

Added: Article from HELLO! Magazine - "Crown Prince Willem's daughters lead guests at royal birthday ball"

Copyright: ANP, Scanpix, PPE

September 2007 Calender

September 2007 Calender for the Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Royal Families

September 1: NED - 40th Birthday Celebrations of Willem-Alexander
September 3: NED - Máxima will open "De Kamers"
September 4: NED - Beatrix will open the new campus of Wageningen University
September 4: DEN - Joachim will visit the Moesgaard Museum
September 5: NED - Máxima will open the art exhibition "Me and the Other & the Other and Me"
September 5: NOR - Sonja will attend the opening of the 2007-2008 season of the Oslo Filharmonic Orchestra
September 6: NOR - Harald and Märtha Louise host a Luncheon for the Princess Märtha Louise Fund
September 6: NOR - Harald will attend the Anders Jahre Award Ceremony
September 6: NOR - Mette-Marit will attend the Grieg Gala with the Bergen Filharmonic Orchestra
September 8: NED - Beatrix will attend a concert by the World Orchestra for Peace
September 8: NOR - Harald will attend the opening of the 120th Autumn Exhibition
September 8: DEN - Mary will attend the Circus Benneweis Gala Performance for the Mental Health Fund
September 9: DEN - Mary will attend a golf tournament in Helsingør
September 10: NOR - Märtha Louise will attend the event marking the dissolution of The Norwegian Sports Organization for the Disabled
September 11: NED - Beatrix & Máxima will attend the premiere of the Hans van Manen Festival
September 12-13: DEN - State Visit from Brazil
September 12: NED - Beatrix will open the new venue for the Amsterdam Archives
September 12: NED - Laurentien will make a speech at the World Illiteracy Day
September 13-14: NOR - State Visit from Brazil
September 14: NED - Beatrix will open the new venue of the Rijksdienst Art-Historical Documentation
September 15: NOR - Mette-Marit will attend the feast and gala performance of the OsloHimmel Festival
September 17-21: DEN - Frederik & Mary (with Isabella) will visit New York
September 18: NED - Prinsjesdag
September 18: NOR - Haakon attends the event marking the 10th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention
September 20: NOR - Mette-Marit will visit Svalbard
September 22: NOR - 36th Birthday of Märtha-Louise
September 22: NED - Willem-Alexander will attend the opening of the exhibition "P. Struycken, the Digital Paradise"
September 23: DEN - Frederik & Mary will award the Kronprinsparrets Kulturpris
September 25: NED - 39th Birthday of Friso
September 26: NED - Willem-Alexander will attend the opening of the "Mosae Forum"
September 30: NOR - 35th Birthday of Ari

Willem-Alexander at World Water Week 2

Prince Willem-Alexander met up with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a World Water Week seminar on "Cities at Risk: A Warmer World and the Big Chill for Urban Planners" on August 16th in Stockholm, Sweden.Picture Gallery from PPE
Copyright: RVD/Siwi

Willem-Alexander at World Water Week in Stockholm

Prince Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange, has been in Sweden this past week participating in World Water Week. On Wednesday, Willem-Alexander made a speech at the meeting of Global Water Partnership.Willem-Alexander's speech:
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have come a long way.
The importance of Integrated Water Resources Management is now widely recognised. There is a broad consensus that IWRM is the key to sustainable water management. Today, around the world, national IWRM planning processes are identifying essential steps to improve water resources management. The resulting plans have to strike a balance between sustainability and a country’s need for social and economic development – often including the need to meet the MDGs.
As Patron of the Global Water Partnership, I am of course happy that IWRM is being put into practice in so many places. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to ask: are good plans enough to ensure effective action? Is this planning process, important though it is, enough to create the necessary political will, ensure the funding needed and guarantee involvement of all the appropriate ministries?
Recent floods on many continents and in many countries (such as China, India, Pakistan, Britain, Bulgaria, Greece and now this week Korea and Germany to name but a few) and elsewhere remind us that we still face many problems in the field of water management in practice. Let's be clear about it: water management problems are not limited to developing countries. We all remember Katrina.
This means that water management still demands our close attention. We are all very aware that in many countries, there is no shortage of plans or analysis. What is lacking is practical implementation in the field: translation into action.
We need to study carefully those cases where countries have been able to move from theory to practice and plans have been successfully carried out. In the past few months I have met with the management of the World Bank and the three major regional development banks. They want to invest in water infrastructure. They are convinced of the importance of these investments to both sustainability and economic and social development. Yet they face the reality that requests for water financing have not increased and loan levels are more or less flat.
Finance and planning ministries are inevitably more concerned with agricultural progress, growth of tourism, energy needs and urbanisation than with abstract concepts of optimal water management. Success occurs where water sector professionals are able to move from a focus on ideal water management concepts into the real world of overlapping sectoral problems.
What are the problems between the needs of the industrial sector and the needs for clean drinking water? How can agriculture grow in areas with a shortage of water?
Will tourism grow or will agriculture be privileged in water-short regions? Clearly these discussions need to get going on the real issues in specific sectors.
If we can link water management to specific national development goals, this will also reduce the gap between the planning and implementation phases.
Next year will be the International Year of Sanitation.
It will give water sector professionals an excellent opportunity to work with town planners on urban water use regulations and agricultural water re-use issues, and to have major, joint campaigns on sewage pollution in rivers and lakes. I know that work is under way in Eastern Europe on appropriate rural sanitation technology. I urge you all to take advantage of this International Year of Sanitation.
Realistically, in regions where surface water and groundwater are shared between countries, transboundary issues have to be properly addressed.
It is a lot to ask of incipient national planning and IWRM implementation that they address transboundary issues as well. But we do know that it is essential.
Competition for water is increasing with population growth, climate change and pollution of usable supplies. So policymakers in other sectors should be taking an active interest in how water decisions are made and how their own decision-making is affecting their countries’ water resources. It is part of our task to bring them to the table. We have to do that by talking about their agendas, not by trying to make them listen to ours.
GWP is proud of its role in getting the appropriate people around the right tables to discuss water issues. By making sure that water development is an integral part of sectoral plans, we are strengthening the credibility of the people and organisations involved. Above all, we are producing tangible results. Currently there is a significant gap between water needs and most countries’ ability to fulfil those needs. We need better management and new water infrastructure: pipelines, boreholes, sewer systems, irrigation systems, treatment plants, hydropower plants and storage facilities. For most countries this means overcoming a significant funding gap, by either finding more money or stretching the money they have further.
The focus of our seminar today will be on sharing the experiences of countries that have made good progress in IWRM and successfully mainstreamed water into national development strategies and plans.
It will examine three countries. Two of these, Mali and Zambia, have donor support in preparing their IWRM plan and one, Brazil, has undertaken this work as part of national development planning. In both cases a link has been made between water management and the national development framework.
I look forward to hearing what lessons can be learned from these case studies. IWRM has come a long way, but we are not yet near the end of the road.
Let’s try to move forward today!

Copyright: RVD/Siwi

New Pictures of Orange Girls

The Dutch Royal House has released new pictures of Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane while they were on holidays in Italy. The pictures were taken by their father Willem-Alexander.

Copyright: The Prince of Orange/RVD

Upcoming State Visits - The Next Three Months

There are going to be State Visits a many in the coming months, with State Visits occurring in all three of the blog's feature countries.

Kongehuset.dk announced yesterday that the Queen and Prince Henrik will host the Brazilian President and First Lady on September 12 and 13 for a return State Visit (Margrethe and Henrik visited Brazil in 1999).

The Brazilian President will also pay a State Visit to the King and Queen of Norway between September 13 and 14.

The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will pay an Official Visit to the Slovak Republic between October 2 and 4.

Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik will visit South Korea between October 8 and 10.

Queen Beatrix, the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will pay a State Visit to India starting October 24; followed by the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima's Official Visit to the Kingdom of Bhutan.

So there will be plenty of opportunites to see the royals in the coming months!!

August 2007 Calender

August 2007 Calender for the Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Royal Families

August 2: DEN - Margrethe will attend a concert at the Gråsten Palace Chapel
August 3: DEN - Photo Session at Gråsten Palace
August 3: NOR - Haakon will attend the funeral of Major General Egge
August 4: DEN - Frederik attends the final of the Homeless World Cup
August 4-5: DEN - Joachim participates in the Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix
August 6-31: DEN - Frederik is Regent
August 7: DEN - Margrethe and Henrik hold a press conference at their French Chateau
August 8: DEN - Frederik has a working visit to the Save the Children Fund
August 10: NOR - Harald presides over the Council of State
August 10: DEN - Mary attends the Baum and Pferdgarten Fashion Show at CIFF
August 11: NOR - Märtha-Louise attends the Bislett Summer Games
August 11: DEN - Benedikte will participate in the opening of Denmark's Norse Active Women's Conference
August 11: NED - Constantijn and Laurentien will attend the opening of the 10th Canal Festival
August 13-16: NED - Willem-Alexander is present at the World Water Week Conference in Stockholm
August 16: NOR - Mette-Marit attends the "Designerspirene" Fashion Show
August 18: NOR - Wedding of Marianne Solberg Behn & Olav Bjørshol
August 19: NED - Beatrix attends a Concert by the European Union Youth Orchestra
August 19: NOR - 34th Birthday of Mette-Marit
August 21: NOR - Märtha-Louise visits Norwegian Blindeforbundets Forerhundskole
August 21: NED - Willem-Alexander had a working visit to Grave and Maasbommel
August 23: NOR - Ari presents his new designs at the Norwegian Gift
August 24: NOR - Harald & Sonja attend the opening of Bygdø Royal Farm
August 25: NOR - Haakon and Mette-Marit will hand out grants from the Crown Princely Couple's Humanitarian Fund
August 25: NOR - Haakon and Mette-Marit will attend the lecture "Can the Ocean Solve the AIDS Riddle?" at the Univeristy of Tromsø
August 25: DEN - Benedikte, Richard, Gustav & Carina will attend the 150th Anniversary of the Haderslev Skydeforenings
August 25: NOR - 6th Wedding Anniversary of Haakon & Mette-Marit
August 25: NED - Christening of Emma van Vollenhoven
August 26-28: NOR - Haakon and Mette-Marit hold a County Visit to Nord-Troms
August 27: NOR - Harald and Sonja attend a drill exercise by The King's Guard
August 27: NED - 2nd Wedding Anniversary of Pieter-Christiaan & Anita
August 28: NED - Beatrix attends the Concours Hippique "'t Peerdespul"
August 28: DEN - 8th Birthday of Nikolai
August 29: DEN - Joachim attends the opening of the "By Voyage to 1000 years Maritime Cultural Festival"
August 29: NOR - 39th Wedding Anniversary of Harald & Sonja
August 30: NOR - Harald attends the inaguration of the Armed Forces' new management building
August 30: NOR - Sonja attends the 30th Anniversary of the Sonjatun Health Centre

Date for the Christening of Ariane Announced

The RVD today announced that the christening of Princess Ariane, the third daughter of the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima, will be held on October 20th, at the Cloister Church in The Hague.

RVD

July 2007 Calender

July 2007 Calender for the Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Royal Families

July 1: DEN - Christening of Lilleprinsesse
July 1: NOR - Haakon & Mette-Marit at Christening of Lilleprinsesse in Denmark
July 4: NED - Laurentien opens the new venue of the Brede School
July 4-6: NED - Willem-Alexander at 119th Session of the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala
July 4-8: NOR - 70th Birthday Celebrations of Queen Sonja
July 4-8: NED - Beatrix & Máxima at 70th Birthday Celebrations of Queen Sonja in Norway
July 4-8: DEN - Margrethe, Henrik & Frederik at 70th Birthday Celebrations of Queen Sonja in Norway
July 4-8: DEN - Joachim is Regent
July 7: NED - Laurentien opens the new Central Library Amsterdam
July 11: DEN - Frederik at the 100th Anniversary of Skagen Harbour
July 11: DEN - Margrethe & Henrik hold an audience with the French Ambassador
July 17: DEN - Margrethe & Henrik visit Sønderborg
July 17: DEN - Margrethe & Henrik take up residence at Gråsten Palace
July 17: NED - Friso unveils the Delfi-C3
July 20: NOR - 34th Birthday of Haakon
July 21: NED - Margriet & Pieter open the Kingdom Games
July 22: DEN - 5th Birthday of Felix
July 27: NED - Beatrix, Margriet & Pieter at the Closing Ceremony of the Kingdom Games
July 29: DEN - Henrik to attend a celebration of composer Dietrich Buxtehudes
July 30: DEN - Margrethe will receive the Ambassador for Luxembourg

Willem-Alexander at Veteran's Day

Prince Willem-Alexander attended Veteran's Day in The Hague yesterday, as he does each year. ANP Photo Gallery here.

Copyright: RVD/ANP

Dutch Photo Session in the Royal Mews

Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Máxima and their three daughters - Amalia, Alexia (the birthday girl!) and Ariane - have completed a photo session celebrating the 2nd birthday of Princess Alexia in the Royal Mews in The Hague.

PPE Picture Gallery here

Added: Royal Press Picture Gallery here

Copyright: RVD & Yord/AP

Willem-Alexander visits Hr.Ms. Rotterdam

Prince Willem-Alexander was in England on June 21st, visiting Hr.Ms. Rotterdam for the last day of the Flag Officers Sea Training.Copyright: RVD/AVDD

Dutch Royals at the Opening of the Lustrum Symposium

Princess Máxima, in her capacity as Chair of the Curatorium, yesterday opened the Lustrum Symposium of the Prince Claus Chair at Noordeinde Palace. Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and Prince Friso were also in attendance.

PPE Picture Gallery here

Added: Máxima's speech:

Your Majesty, Professor Fresco, Dear Chair holders, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure that I now open this symposium to celebrate the fifth chair holder of the Prince Claus Chair on Development and Equity, on behalf of its Curatorium. A very special welcome to prof. Louise Fresco, who will deliver the key note lecture, and to our five Chair Holders, professors Mansoob Murshed, Amina Mama, Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Rema Hammami, and Nasira Jabeen. A very special word of thanks to Her Majesty, for her incredible hospitality. It is amazing to be able to celebrate this in your Palace and with your presence. Thank you!
Five years already, time flies. After the passing away of my father in law, Prince Claus, the idea of this Chair arose. Prince Claus was strongly committed to development and equity in North-South relations. Through his work, his travels and his contacts he gained a deep understanding of the opportunities for equitable development. But also a deep understanding of the obstacles to it. His views, and above all his attitude towards people in the developing world became a source of inspiration to many, and still is.
In commemoration and respect for his work, the Utrecht University and the Institute of Social Studies together shaped this chair. The Chair aims to stimulate research and teaching in development and equity by establishing a rotating professorship. The two participating institutions will alternately appoint an outstanding young academic from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean or the Pacific to the Chair.
The Prince Claus Chair was launched in a special academic ceremony in the Dom Church in Utrecht on March 2003. In this same ceremony and in view of the 50th anniversary of ISS, Utrecht University awarded an honorary doctorate to the then President of the Inter-American Development Bank, dr. Enrique V. Iglesias. His work has always focused on the relation between economy and administration on one side and civil society on the other. A person Prins Claus was very fond of.

From the very beginning, we have been very fortunate with excellent candidates. We started with dr. Mansoob Murshed, an economist from Bangladesh, who works in the field of trade and freedom as well as that of peace and conflict management. We then had the honour of having dr. Amina Mama, from Nigerian/South African background, who was appointed for her contribution to the academic field of African Culture and its relationship to development. In 2004-2005 we had dr. Gaspar Rivera-Salgado with us, a sociologist from Mexico, who had contributed already significantly to academic research on indigenous rights and migration, particularly in Latin America and the United States. Last year dr. Rema Hammami, from Palestinian background, was our Chairholder. She was appointed for her contribution to peace and co-existence in the Palestinian Territories. And this year we have the pleasure to have in our midst dr. Nasira Jabeen, from Pakistan, who is an expert on the possibilities and constraints of good governance as a concept in the developing world.
To all five we say ‘Thank you’, thank you for being such excellent representatives of the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity. You have been willing to leave your own country, your university, your family and friends to come to the Netherlands. You have engaged in education and research and you have participated in publications, lectures, seminars, etc. And you have also contributed to outreach activities. To take one example, dr. Rivera-Salgado was involved in a project on Human Rights and Migration, in which pupils from secondary schools studied the theme from different angles, and presented the results to experts and to each other at a concluding seminar in Utrecht.
Ladies and gentlemen, the variety in backgrounds and academic expertise reflects the complexity of development and equity. It also reflects the necessity of contributions from different disciplines to gain a more profound insight into ways and means through which development and equity can be encouraged. The Curatorium hopes that the activities of the Prince Claus Chair contribute to this goal.
Personally, I am delighted to be part of this process. To be able to give a platform to these talented people in Europe means more opportunity for us to learn from them and their ideas. I hope in consequence that our Chairholders will therefore become stronger voices in their regions of origin. As Prins Claus said in one of his 23 statements at the ISS ‘freedom of speech as an essential element in any form of democracy and therefore a prerequisite for true development’. With all my heart, I wish that we continue to support these academics as just one way for us to contribute to development in the strong belief that people develop themselves within their own cultural environment.

Copyright: RVD/ANP

Thank-You from Willem-Alexander & Máxima

What has been dubbed the "Wassenaar Surprise" was revealed yesterday, at 0:01 Dutch time. The surprise? A lovely new photo of little Princess Ariane with her parents, and a thank-you note from Willem-Alexander & Máxima.

Read the thank-you note (in Dutch) here

A translation of the thank-you:
"The continuous stream of wonderful flowers, beautiful drawings, sweet cadeaus, personal letters and well-wishings we might receive from so many since the birth of Ariane was heartwarming. The enormous amount makes it necessary to express, on behalf of Ariane, our gratitude to You in this way, despite the fact we would like to have done it in a more personal manner.After an advanced start with the for us so trusted team from Bronovo Hospital, three weeks later Ariane appeared to have a virus and various bacterias. To our deep concern she needed to be admitted in Leyden Universitary Medical Center. Thanks to adequate action and excellent handling, also for the parents, the tide could be turned quickly and we are very grateful towards the nursing staff and the doctors. After a few days in the hospital we could, intensely happy, enclose Ariane again amidst our family, fully recovered and blossoming as before.This short but so heavy period in the yet still so short life of Ariane caused a new flood of sweet and heartwarming reactions which have been a great support for us. Your sympathy has touched us so deeply and we feel an intense gratitude for that."

Copyright: RVD

Surprise from Wassenaar!

According to royalblog.nl, the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will give us a surprise from Wassenaar on Wednesday! Could it be a possible photo-session with all three Orange princesses? Stay tuned...