When a few months ago King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands celebrated his 50th birthday, he had invited 150 ordinary Dutch people for dinner in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. A lady, who actually was seated next to the king, wore a rather large hat. I am not quite sure whether these special guests received any […]
It always surprises me that when the retirement age of normal working people is being discussed, people don’t know how loud to protest when a government decides the age goes up. That happened in the Netherlands for example recently. It varies per country, but in the Netherlands where I live, for many years it was […]
Several statements by Prince Harry of Wales in the American magazine “Newsweek” last week caused some criticism. Whether it was wise of him to say these things remains a question, but at least he was honest. And probably he spoke about what many royals have felt and might never have spoken about. We are involved […]
I actually never thought for a second about it. But once when visiting a castle I walked down the stairs with someone who had grown up visiting castles of family members and friends. And when I was holding the balustrade – as about all other visitors around us – he laughed and explained to me […]
Last week I really started to feel old. Someone posted an article on Twitter with the title “Remember When Prince William Was a Superhot Teen Idol?” Yes, I do remember, but at the time I was already too old to actually have a crush on him, and I probably would have gone for his brother […]
There are probably many countries in the world where the national anthem plays a much bigger role than in the Netherlands. Last week the Dutch politician Sybrand van Haersma Buma (leader of the Christian democrats) said that Dutch children should learn the national anthem again at their schools, and that they should do that standing. […]
Kaiserschmarrn
Accidentally I found a recipe for a royal dessert, and thought it would be fun to collect some links to recipes here. Over the centuries lots of food was named after royals or is regarded as the favourite dish of a royal. How did I end up with so much cakes and desserts! Just have […]
Part of the Lego collection of my good friend Erik has moved to the Legio-Museum in Grootegast until the end of the year 2016. “My” Lego version, including camera, has moved there too to cover the visit of Lego King Willem-Alexander and Lego Queen Máxima to the place, even dressed up for the occasion in […]
Can you name an artist (singer, musician, group) you discovered via your love for royals? If there is one I should name it is the Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø. The first time I heard her music it was during the wedding ceremony of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn. A sad song actually, […]
Looking at myself I become pretty bored when I hear and read too much about one particular royal house. When I started learning about royals most information I could get – mainly from the gossip magazines here in the country – was about the Dutch, British royal family and the princely family of Monaco. Since […]
