Cogs can think.

Our Prince-Heir, Willem Alexander, turned 40 years old yesterday, and this was celebrated by a very rare close-up interview with him. It is very rare that members of the press get to interview members of the Royal Family; when they do, the Royal Family selects the journalist of the NOS who gets to perform the interview. Remember that in The Netherlands, the government is actually responsible for anything any member of the Royal Family says or does. Willem Alexander, in an earlier interview, said that this “Secretarial Responsibility” is what annoys him the most about being Royal; it effectively means he has no freedom of speech.

So, in any interview, there is a slight feeling of tense since members of the Royal Family have to choose their words very carefully. They do have a veto over the interview before it is broadcast, but still.

In any case, the most interesting bit in the interview yesterday eve was about the possible abdication of his mother, the Queen (d’oh). While in many kingdoms monarchs tend to reign until death, the Dutch Royal Family has a history of abdication; while on a really high pedistal, the people here recognise the fact that the ‘Oranges’ are just people - like everybody else, who have their right to privacy and a relatively peaceful and worriless old age.

In any case, many experts and royalty watchers expect Queen Beatrix to announce her abdication in 2008 or 2009. Some, however, think it will be much later: they think the Queen wants to give Willem Alexander and his family the time to properly raise their children. Passing the thrown on to Willem Alexander means his wife Maxima gets the title ‘Queen’, which will all obviously mean they won’t have enough time to properly raise their three daughters. Contrary to i.e. the Scandinavian monarchs, the Dutch ones have a lot of power and therefore a lot of work to do. Being King or Queen is a full-time job, much more than just cutting ribbons.

Personally, I tend to agree with the latter: let’s give Willem Alexander and Maxima’s children the time to grow up outside of the media storm. They have every right to experience childhood in relative peace, just like any other child in this country.

We Dutch all agree on one thing though: Prince-Heir Willem Alexander is ready to become King Willem IV; he is an eloquent, intelligent, and strong man, perfectly well capable of running The Netherlands, Inc. I am sure he won’t let his people and his heritage down.