© NTR
Vanaf woensdag 31 januari 2024, 20.30 uur toont de Nederlandse tv-zender NPO 1 een nieuwe serie over de geschiedenis van het Huis Oranje-Nassau. De achtdelige serie heet: “Het verhaal van Nederland: Oranje Nassau. Een nieuwe geschiedenis van Nederland en het koningshuis”. Het bijbehorende boek, geschreven door Dorine Hermans en Marchien den Hertog, landde eerder al […]
In the Netherlands it is a good practice to have a piece of art or a photo in the city hall. During the renovation 2020-2022 of the city hall in Groningen, the city where I live, there has been somewhat of a discussion: should there be a new portrait of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, […]
Just like five years ago photographer Bernard Rübsamen asked me to write the texts for his new photobook: 10 Jaar Koningspaar (10 years royal couple) on the occasion of the 10th anniversary on the throne of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. The book has 240 pages full of wonderful photos by Bernard […]
When you're being used as test object.
Few posts this year on the blog thus far, which has several reasons. After a few lovely quiet days, the royal year 2023 really started off, when on Thursday 5 January the new book by Prince Harry, “Spare”, was sold already five days earlier than planned. Hell broke loose. Thousands and thousands of articles were […]
In September 2023 it will be 75 years ago that Queen Juliana was inaugurated as the monarch of the Netherlands. Her eldest daughter, Princess Beatrix, on Thursday 13 October 2022 opened an exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk (new church) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands: “De eeuw van Juliana” (The century of Juliana). It was here that […]
photo: Ken
Honestly I think it is time for Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to stop trying to convince the media of their side of the story, as that will probably never happen. With a Netflix-documentary and a new book to arrive soon, it seems they are not […]
Early November I headed for Leeuwarden to see two exhibitions. “Vrijheid, Vetes, Vagevuur” (Freedom, Feuds, Purgatory) at the Fries Museum has several references to nobility, but isn’t specifically about nobles or royals. It deals with the lost world of Tota Frisia in the full and late Middle Ages, when the Frisians were still free people […]
© Maison du Grand-Duc / Sophie Margue
Last modified: 10 November 2022 1 October Thus far the British royal family has received more than 50.000 messages of condolence following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September. A poll commissioned by the pro-republican association “Republiek” shows that only 51 percent of the Dutch think The Netherlands should remain a monarchy. The […]
Photo: Jens Peter Engedal / Kongernes Samling
When going through my articles of the past months, I noticed I have forgotten to tell you about the wonderful exhibition “Mary & Kronprinsesserne” (Mary & the Crown Princesses) that can be visited at the Koldinghus in Kolding, Denmark, until 30 December 2022. The exhibition was opened by Crown Princess Mary herself, accompanied by Crown […]
Once upon the time there was a little Princess … or wait, she wasn’t even born yet. Her grandmother Queen Mother Emma and her mother Queen Wilhelmina already received dolls regularly when travelling through the Netherlands. So when Wilhelmina, after several miscarriages, finally again fell pregnant in 1908, the Dutch people were delighted. Already on […]