Queen
April 30, 2008
Princess Maxima, Prince Heir Willem-Alexander, Queen Beatrix
How unnervingly moving is this.
It was Koninginnedag today in The Netherlands. An Afghan refugee, who fled to our country in 2001, walked 50km from Heerenveen to Franeker last night. Franeker is one of the cities the Royal Family visited today. It was his goal to extend a personal letter to the Queen in which he thanked her for the support The Netherlands has given, and is giving, to the Afghan people.
Noble.
He got to shake the Queen’s hands, but she didn’t take the letter. He got to shake the Prince Heir’s hand, but he didn’t take the letter (these people have to shake 4395398589307593 hands, no surprise there).
He was sad.
And then, at the last minute, Princess Laurentien passed by. She shook his hand, he explained his intentions, and Princess Laurentien took his letter, and assured him she’d give it to the Queen.
God I love this place.
God, how fake this picture is. Notice how all three members are wearing clothes that use iterations of pink, including the man. While it looks uniform, in my eyes it also screams “faaaake”.
Comment by Eugenia — May 1, 2008 @ 12:10 am
What’s fake about dressing properly?
In addition, pink is a normal colour to wear here for a man. Wake up in the 21st century, pink is no longer gay or feminine.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 12:19 am
You really didn’t understand my post. It has nothing to do with the men or women or the color pink. Is my English really that bad?
>What’s fake about dressing properly?
It’s fake because they had a fashionista dressing them ALL. Not just the queen, or just the princess, but they had someone STAGING the whole thing. It’s just fake. It is meant for idiots who can’t think, and it plays with the psychology of these idiots to make them think how “uniformed” they all are. A perfect family. In the eyes of someone who can think a bit more than the average Joe, this is a negative point, not a positive one.
Comment by Eugenia — May 1, 2008 @ 12:41 am
Eugenia, Eugenia, Eugenia. Don’t underestimate us.
You make it seem as if it’s a secret people like the Royal Family have people thinking about their clothing. OF COURSE THEY DO. We’re not stupid. This is not a negative point because it is NORMAL. EVERYONE who is even the SLIGHTEST bit in the spotlight has people dressing them. I didn’t realise you meant that because, well, DUH! Naturally!
When the commentary in the newspapers or on TV mentions the clothing, it always goes something like “staff picked out their clothing well” and (literally, yesterday): “that was a planned thing, of course, that several members decided to wear pink”.
Eugena, I hate to break it to you, but you’ve NOT connected these dots for the first time. Next thing you’re telling me Obama and Clinton don’t write their own speeches and have spindoctors!
No, that can’t be.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 5:27 am
The problem is not whether they’re fake or not, the problem is that the monarchy is a bad joke.
Get rid of it, let’s have a German/Israeli style of presidency. If Beatrix wants to remain head of state, let her just be a candidate! If she’s really that popular, she’ll be elected.
There’s nothing historically compelling about this particular familiy playing the role of monarchs in our country. It’s purely one family that managed to hijack or state.
Holland was one of the first republics, and it was extremely influential when it was a republic, in the 17th century and after. Being a republic, it inspired anti-autocratic movements abroad. Dutch philosophers such as Spinoza inspired Enlightenment figures all over Europe. French writers could print and publish controversial works in Holland.
When we were a republic, and for a great part, because we were a republic.
The Oranjes were installed here by the great powers that defeated Napoleon, in the time of the Restoration, to create a reasonably powerful buffer state against future ambitions of France. The first crack was when Belgium separated. The next crack was when Bernhard turned out to be a corrupt corporate spy. People love Beatrix because she is not only professional, she is überprofessional. The popularity is always depended on the completely coincidental personal traits of the present king/queen.
One of our kings, Beatrix’ ancestor, reigning for 40 years, was a complete fruitcake. The only thing the monarchy is good for, is massive revenues for the sewer press.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 6:39 am
Typical republican behaviour. Focus on the negative sides, never the positive ones.
Luckily, republicans are a very, very small, albeit vocal, minority. How’s things on the side of utter irrelevance? :)
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 6:56 am
Yes, but everyone has his OWN stylist. When Madonna goes out with Paltrow, each one has her own stylist. Your guys have staged the whole thing for all of them. This is an attempt to look uniformed with EACH OTHER, not simply look like each one of them is in fashion or well groomed. That’s where it sucks. Because it feels overly pre-meditated, and completely fake.
This is the difference between putting make up on and looking like a tranny.
Comment by Eugenia — May 1, 2008 @ 7:00 am
Apples and oranges, Eugenia.
Do you really think Madonna and her husband have different stylists? Do you really think Barack/Hillary and his/her wife/husband have two different stylists that advice them independently? They are a FAMILY, Eugenia. Not people that once or twice in their life perform together. They do not only have an individual image to carry out, but a mutual, shared image too.
The Royal Family HAS to emit an image of unity, of belonging, because that’s what they represent: the unity of The Netherlands.
But hey, I’m not surprised you don’t understand. This is way above your head, Eugenia.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 7:19 am
No it’s not above my head, stop being an ass.
Does this mother live with the couple? What about the woman on the background?
Comment by Eugenia — May 1, 2008 @ 7:29 am
Each member of the Royal Family has their own stylist. In fact, the names of those people are known. It’s just that on Queen’s Day, which is a highly special occasion because the ENTIRE family appears all at the same time, they think this through much more thoroughly than normal. This isn’t rocket science: they represent the unity of The Netherlands, and as such, they need to emit such an image.
What does living together have to do with this? A family, not just the Royal one, IS one.
Let me explain it to you, since you obviously have no clue what you’re talking about. Members of the Royal Family are special people, but at the same time, they are oh-so-normal. They abide by the same laws that we do, and they are ordinary citizens of the state. They pay taxes, and get pension, too (the Queen donates her pension to charity, by the way). The young princes and princesses (even the ones that are direct in line for the thrown, like the Prince Heir’s children) go to a perfectly normal primary school with all the other non-Royal, non-noble children. Princess Amalia, our next queen, goes to a primary school in Wassenaar, where they live. When she grows up, she’ll go to a normal university, to study a normal subject like all of us do; our next king (Prince Heir Willem-Alexander) specialises in water management, and works in that area too. They are normal people in that they live lives that are, contrary to what foreigners seem to think, relatively normal, at least compared to the British Royal Family (where you most likely base your perception upon, as all other foreigners do) or celebrities.
The Queen makes EUR 800000 a year, which is nothing compared to what most celebrities earn. However, the job of managing The Netherlands, Inc. (as it’s jokingly called here) is much more stressful and intense than being a celebrity.
The fact that they need to emit an image of unity is nothing different from a rockband dressing similar during their tour and public appearances, or a presidential family acting as the perfect, all-American family. It’s just part of it all, and 99.9% of the people here know it’s part of it all.
And we all do that. We all wear masks, we all hide our true selves. Even you. Denying that would be pathetic.
Ah yes, it’s ok for you to call me an idiot, but it’s not okay for me to say that I believe you don’t seem to understand all this.
Right.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 7:51 am
The positive ones, being, making money for those corporations big enough to do business on a scale that justifies official “trade missions”? BTW, how is anyone going to quantify this? The people that come up with those numbers pulled them right up from their ass.
You’re an orangist fanboy, I have no problem with that, but try to be fair once in a while.
Are you, for instance, claiming that any monarch can make lots of money for the corporations? Is the monarchy making money for the Belgians? Is it for the British? (The gutter journalists, no doubt. hallelujah!) Or is it, perhaps, a slight coincidence that Beatrix is a perfectionist and good at whatever she’s doing?
How happy would you be if from now on, the prime minister’s job would be hereditary to JP Balkenende’s offspring? Frankly, that would scare me to death.
You’re only a monarchist on purely pragmatic grounds. If we did not have sort of a democratic system too, would you be against democracy just being Beatrix is “doing a good job”?
Typical orangist behaviour. Everybody knows that it’s extremely difficult to amend the constitution to the effect that the monarchy is abolished. But it doesn’t mean that not at least 40% of the populatin would certainly not protest if it was tried to abolish the monarchy. So, small no, vocal, neither. It’s not a priority, but it doesn’t mean it’s not still a very silly thing.
Now would you care trying to answer my question? What’s wrong with a German/Israeli style presidency? Let’s put this popularity to the test and see if Beatrix would be elected the first president of the Republic of the Netherlands.
I’ve got the feeling the orangists are slightly afraid of that test.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 8:01 am
The money those corporations make will, in the end, benefit us all. Sure, the people high up there take a too big a share, but overall, it still benefits the workers too. And our economy. And you.
No.
But so far, we’ve been doing pretty well. We’ll see what the future brings.
How would you feel if suddenly pancakes ate green clouds with bits of feline hairs draped over their key-like green freckles?
Exactly. Nonsense question. Won’t happen, so it’s irrelevant. Thank god :).
Speaking of pulling numbers out of your ass :). A poll published yesterday by the NOS showed 80% in full support of the Monarchy. Where’s that 40% coming from?
That’s asking the wrong question. The question should be: what’s wrong with the monarchy? Is NL any less democratic than republics? Is NL any less wealthy? Any less happy? Because of the Monarchy?
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 8:13 am
I don’t like using the word, Thom, but that is utter bullshit.
They do not abide by the same laws, how ridiculous can your fanboyism get?
Bernhard was a corrupt corporate spy. Did he get punished? They took his uniform away from him, oh how cruel.
Máxima from Argentina, daughter of a junta member, got a Dutch passport for free (state interests, right?) while I had to go through all kinds of ordeals to get my wife from Korea to Holland. She’s a chemical engineer, by the way, something that Holland claims they need more of. It took me, since I’m “less equal”, obviously, than the oh-so-normal royals, nearly three years.
You want more examples? I can get you loads, but please try to acquire some knowledge of how the monarchy works yourself. There is nothing “ordinary citizens of the state”ish about the royal family.
Give me a break. I know what I’m talking about here.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 8:18 am
He was also a decorated war hero, who played an important role during the Second World War.
With all due respect, I’m sure your wife is a lovely person, but continuing the lineage of the Royal Family is much more important to the stability and longevity of this country than a biochemist.
Oh, and the throw-away junta remark is utterly tasteless. As if the young girl has had anything to do with that stuff. Do we still hold present-day Germans responsible for WWII? I thought we grew beyond that by now.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 8:29 am
You’re asking this from the status quo.
As I said, there is fundamental, institutional inequality in our monarchic system. Quod licet Iovi, not licet bovi.
I’m arguing from the principal point of view. Is a non-democratic head of state desirable? Of course not. It’s a historical set of events that led to this. I’m not up in arms to storm the palace and guillotine them. Of course not. But it’s still an anachronism from the 19th century. Look at our history, the French period: the Oranjes have always caused division.
Of course, because in a republic you get to choose your head of state, and in a monarchy you don’t. How obvious can it get? Do you seriously imply that the royal family cannot, and does not, exert some kind of power? You have a serious naïveté problem if you do.
Yeah, let’s measure everything in money. Many of the world’s largest and most powerful economies, US, Germany, France, Brazil (rising), India, China, Korea, have no monarchs. Now one may assert that in some of those countries they “elect their own emperors every four to five years”, like a French guy told me, and the US is even worse, but that another issue altogether.
You want exceptions? UK - royal family is not taken seriously. Japan - a disaster to its own members, a relic. Saudi Arabia - wealthy, sure. I wonder how’s that. Holland was the wealthiest state on the face of the earth when it was a republic. We were very good at robbing, plundering and killing then (JPCoen comes to mind), and painting too. What are you trying to achieve with this “wealth” argument?
Only fools attach the adjective “happy” to a nation. Well, let’s be fools then. I can tell you that we Dutch are not happy. We waste our time being extremely wealthy retards, accusing, for example, Muslims all f**king day long to mess up our nice little country, while we are the greatest hypocrites of all, having supported and still supporting illegal invasions, killing hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq (look it up yourself Thom), without the blink of an eye.
To most people, this is already an irrelevant footnote in history, I should probably shut up as far as most people are concerned, but I wonder what most people would do if their family was blown to tiny little pieces by a cluster bomb.
So no, frankly I do not believe we are happy. We are a bunch of f**king retards, this whole nationalist meme we’re in is pathetic. The monarchy and the way is slavishly venerated does not personally affect me to the least, but it does expose our total hypocrisy.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 8:47 am
If you believe in democracy so much, then why can’t you accept the fact that consistently, polls show 80%+ support figures of the monarchy (and there’s little variance among different polling agencies)?. If you are so democratic, shouldn’t that prove to you we simply WANT the monarchy?
And being a royalist has nothing to do with nationalism, by the way.
About the muslim issue: you know I fully agree with you on that one. It’s so sad.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 8:53 am
The lineage of the royal family is irrelevant. If W.-A. has no kids, any other member can take over. His brother, or his brother’s kid, etc. So your argument is completely flawed. My argument was that they are in fact privileged unlike what you claimed. I guess you agree with that. Let him get his own girl friend to Holland, and let him be subjected to the same procedures I was/everyone else is. That would mean they could live together in Holland maybe a year or more later than was the case now.
Is that a threat to the continuity of the “lineage of the Royal Family”? Ridiculous.
It’s not tasteless, it’s fucking relevant to every one else. Do you ever think you can immigrate to the Netherlands that easy if you’re the offspring of some kind of dictator, junta member, war criminal, etc.? You’ll be heavily screened. it’ll talke lots of time. But this dictatorship was to our liking at the time (good for business, right?) so that was not a problem.
Of course “the young girl” is not at fault for the fact that her dad is a criminal. No kid ever is. You obviously have never had any dealings with the IND. Well please don’t get involved in any relationship with a non-Dutch woman then. Before you throw those adjectives at me, try to not interpret whatever I say in a completely different way than I, given the context, intended.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Oh, and polls have nothing to do with democracy. Democracy is put to the test only at official elections, and only then.
The 40% number, indeed, comes right out of my ass. So does you 80% number. It’s pathetic to trust polls. But at least I base it on the people I see around me. Many of the people I know are very critical of the monarchy, and those that are not, just don’t care.
Sure they’ll say, yeah all right I support the monarchy, and next when someone tries to abolish it, most of them won’t get out of their beds to do anything about it. Like, you know, vote ‘Beatrix for president’.
The only staunch supporters of the monarchy are orthodox Christians that believe God had personally ordained the Oranjes, and perhaps a million or so retards (respect) that buy all the sewer press magazines. And a few eccentrics like yourself, apparently. :)
But I’m happy for you if you’re happy with a family appointed to be kings and queens of the Netherlands by the Russian Tsar, the British, the Prussians, etc., by all of them, except by ourselves.
It’s not a priority on my list, frankly.
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 9:18 am
Ass vs. polling. Both are unreliable, but I’ll take the latter over the former :). Being critical of the monarchy doesn’t mean abolishing it either.
Look, if there’s ever a 2/3 majority in parliament to change how things are run currently, I’ll accept that (and leave, probably). But seeing the most reliable (or least unreliable, if you will) source says 80% support the monarchy, that won’t happen for a long time.
Comment by Administrator — May 1, 2008 @ 9:26 am
You’ll “probably” leave when it gets to that?
Now thát is an interesting statement. :P
You’re gonna seek asylum then, any preference where?
:)
.. I’d have left a thousand times if I had to leave for every fundamental political disagreements.
Remember our proud nation is, formally, complicit in illegal warfare and as such, war crimes, and as such, mass murder. Are you saying I should’ve already left? To where?
I admit, I have the luxury to choose between South Korea and Holland.
If I catch a plane in time, I can go there anytime when things go bad.
Yeah.. that would be so brave..
Comment by herman — May 1, 2008 @ 9:56 am
Leave it to the Dutch to remind everyone that even the most advanced of us are still utterly primitive.
Sure individual monarchs may not be contemptible, after all, just as being born into wealth and luxury doesn’t determine your greatness as a person, neither does it detract, but The monarchy as a system is logically indefensible. It’s entire premise rests on pseudo genetics and religious bullshit so bullshit even most religious people don’t buy it.
If you want to pedestal someone go elect an Übermensch, if you’re worried democracy will taint him/her raise it Truman
Comment by Andrew — May 1, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
[offtopic-post]
I woke up yesterday, put on my pink sweater, walked downstrairs, turned on the TV and saw the royal family wearing pink.
Now I love the royal family just a bit more, because I could go out wearing what I was wearing and be a little royal too… ;)
[/offtopic]
Comment by LoeZ — May 1, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Stop stealing our style.
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fashion/jfk.jpg
Comment by mikesum32 — May 5, 2008 @ 4:05 am
Thom, you need to start behaving like a grown up and close your blog for comments. You know, so no one can argue with your opinions.
Comment by Soulbender — May 5, 2008 @ 4:34 am