From 30 October to 1 November 2006 King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan, accompanied by a few family members, paid a state visit to the Netherlands on invitation of Queen Beatrix. The visit originally was to take place from 29 November to 1 December 2005, but was cancelled because of a terrorist attack in Amman, Jordan, on 9 November 2005.
After visits to Amsterdam and The Hague on the first two days, on 1 November they went to see the Province of Flevoland, which for me was just about reachable by public transport. I had to skip the visit to Marknesse, where they visited the Geomatics Business Park and the National Aerospace Laboratory. But it was very interesting to see them at the Bataviawerf in Lelystad, where the royals admired the reconstruction of De 7 Provinciën ship. Fans could come unbelievably close, almost touch the royals, which I really hadn’t expected. Luckily another fan had arrived by car and took me along to the company Spyker Cars in Zeewolde afterwards. Not that much to see, but the cars outside were rather good. Near Spyker Cars was a field where the royal helicopter waited for them to leave. After an extensive goodbye the Jordanians boarded the helicopter. We all waved them goodbye, and that was the end of the state visit …
