Dutch Royal News

[anastasia beaverhausen]

I’m sorry to read that, if it’s true. Horrible thing to do if it’s just speculation though.

[Principessa]

Originated from Privé, the largest family magazine in the Netherlands, and reprinted by many local media

https://www.ditjesendatje...lijk-maurits-en-marilene/


Painful messages about marriage Maurits and Marilène，The largest family magazine in the Netherlands Privé suggests today that the relationship between the couple is tottering.

These kinds of reports, rumors have been around for a long time. At least I've heard and read about this before, mostly in the Dutch gossip magazines.

[Principessa]

In the Netherlands Prince Bernhard, the 2nd son of Princess Margriet & Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven, under fire. His behavior is much ridiculed.

His image in the Netherlands is bad. He is known as a "slumlord" mainly in Amsterdam and there is discussion about the F1 races in Zandvoort in which he is involved.

[Principessa]

https://nos.nl/artikel/23...t-volgend-jaar-koningsdag

Maastricht will organize King's Day next year

King's Day will be held in Maastricht next year, the Government Information Service reports. On April 27, 2022, the king and the royal family will go to the Limburg capital to attend the festivities.

Maastricht was actually already on the program in 2020, but due to the corona measures, that could not take place. This year, the king's birthday was celebrated in Eindhoven.

That was mainly a virtual program, also because of the corona measures. For example, there was a "selfie street" where the family spoke to six special Eindhoven residents through a screen, the king played a regional quiz with Queen Máxima and their daughters and there were performances in front of a green screen with an apparently full house.

The RVD has not yet reported anything about the interpretation of the celebration in Maastricht.

[katymc2]

The family have a new, very cute dog called Mambo

[Principessa]

https://www.nu.nl/achterk...aak-kennis-met-mambo.html

Mambo

[Principessa]

https://nos.nl/artikel/24...aak-poch-koning-werkt-mee

Loosely translated as:

Investigation into the influence of circles around the Royal House in the Poch case, the king cooperates

There will be an investigation into the possible influence of circles around the Royal House in the Poch case. Former SER chairman and former D66 senator Alexander Rinnooy Kan will lead the inquiry and King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix have promised their cooperation.

The Cabinet of the King writes to Rinnooy Kan that the three "have requested that you inform us that if necessary and if requested they would like to enter into a conversation with you in the context of your investigation".

The House of Representatives had requested an investigation after the issue came to light last February in a broader investigation into the role of the Netherlands in the case of the Dutch-Argentine pilot.

In that investigation, the Machielse Commission reported that it had encountered "a (fruitless) attempt to intervene in the investigation. This was allegedly done from circles around the Royal House."

death flights
The Poch case revolves around the pilot Julio Poch, who was suspected of participating in the 'death flights' during the Videla dictatorship in Argentina. Political opponents were thrown into the water from airplanes or helicopters to make them disappear.

When Poch was suspected of involvement, he was now a Dutch citizen and flew for Transavia. During the last flight before his retirement, thanks to Dutch information, Poch was arrested in Spain and extradited to Argentina. There he spent years in jail before being acquitted because there was no evidence against him.

A few years earlier, there was a discussion in the Netherlands about Máxima's father, Jorge Zorreguieta. As Minister of Agriculture, he had been part of the Videla regime and there were questions about his involvement in human rights violations.

Phone call from a Dutch woman
The intervention attempt is described in detail in the report of the Machielse Committee from February. That took place in 2007, when the investigation into Poch was still known to few (his arrest was in 2009).

It concerned a telephone call to the Dutch representative of Eurojust, a judicial cooperation of the EU. The representative describes that he was called by a Dutch woman who said she was from the Cabinet of the Queen. "He came over me with the question along the lines of: 'That case against the Argentine pilot, is that necessary?'"

When he asked why she wanted to know, the woman said, according to him: "Yes, it is so painful for Máxima." When asked if "Her Majesty" was behind this phone call, the caller replied: "No, but in our group we talked about it once and it kind of lived in the sense of 'do you have to?'"

Sufficiently researched
The Machielse Commission has not been able to determine whether the woman who made the attempt actually worked for the Queen's Office, as she claimed.

Justice Minister Grapperhaus said in the debate on the Machielse report that further investigation was not necessary, because the matter had already been sufficiently investigated. A large part of the opposition and coalition party D66 insisted anyway.

Rinnooy Kan's committee plans to issue a report before June 1 next year.

[Alice Unchained]

https://nos.nl/artikel/24...aak-poch-koning-werkt-mee

Loosely translated as:

Investigation into the influence of circles around the Royal House in the Poch case, the king cooperates

There will be an investigation into the possible influence of circles around the Royal House in the Poch case. Former SER chairman and former D66 senator Alexander Rinnooy Kan will lead the inquiry and King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix have promised their cooperation.

The Cabinet of the King writes to Rinnooy Kan that the three "have requested that you inform us that if necessary and if requested they would like to enter into a conversation with you in the context of your investigation".

The House of Representatives had requested an investigation after the issue came to light last February in a broader investigation into the role of the Netherlands in the case of the Dutch-Argentine pilot.

In that investigation, the Machielse Commission reported that it had encountered "a (fruitless) attempt to intervene in the investigation. This was allegedly done from circles around the Royal House."

death flights
The Poch case revolves around the pilot Julio Poch, who was suspected of participating in the 'death flights' during the Videla dictatorship in Argentina. Political opponents were thrown into the water from airplanes or helicopters to make them disappear.

When Poch was suspected of involvement, he was now a Dutch citizen and flew for Transavia. During the last flight before his retirement, thanks to Dutch information, Poch was arrested in Spain and extradited to Argentina. There he spent years in jail before being acquitted because there was no evidence against him.

A few years earlier, there was a discussion in the Netherlands about Máxima's father, Jorge Zorreguieta. As Minister of Agriculture, he had been part of the Videla regime and there were questions about his involvement in human rights violations.

Phone call from a Dutch woman
The intervention attempt is described in detail in the report of the Machielse Committee from February. That took place in 2007, when the investigation into Poch was still known to few (his arrest was in 2009).

It concerned a telephone call to the Dutch representative of Eurojust, a judicial cooperation of the EU. The representative describes that he was called by a Dutch woman who said she was from the Cabinet of the Queen. "He came over me with the question along the lines of: 'That case against the Argentine pilot, is that necessary?'"

When he asked why she wanted to know, the woman said, according to him: "Yes, it is so painful for Máxima." When asked if "Her Majesty" was behind this phone call, the caller replied: "No, but in our group we talked about it once and it kind of lived in the sense of 'do you have to?'"

Sufficiently researched
The Machielse Commission has not been able to determine whether the woman who made the attempt actually worked for the Queen's Office, as she claimed.

Justice Minister Grapperhaus said in the debate on the Machielse report that further investigation was not necessary, because the matter had already been sufficiently investigated. A large part of the opposition and coalition party D66 insisted anyway.

Rinnooy Kan's committee plans to issue a report before June 1 next year.

Thank you for posting this, Principessa. I didn't know about these "death flights", how horrible. I think there has been a very concerted effort to whitewash Maxima's past, as in "she is only his daughter and had nothing to do with it". If she is indeed trying to influence investigations in the present day it casts the RF in a very bad light. But I'm sure there will be no consequences as all the power lies with those who are being investigated.

[ralf103]

I always had the impression Maxima has been relatively open about her father and his role in the regime - didn't he not attend her wedding because of that? I'm not sure there is whitewashing going on so much as people recognising that Maxima would have been no more than 12 years old at the end of the regime - so it is fair to punish her for what her father did. Of course the death flights and other atrocities are horrendous and should be investigated and those proven to have been part of it punished. I'm sure this investigation will come to a clear conclusion - at which point we'll be able to tell if there have been any attempts at whitewashing for Maxima or not.

[Principessa]

https://www.nu.nl/konings...oek-naar-griekenland.html

Loosely translated as:

King and Queen not on state visit to Greece

An intended state visit by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Greece has been postponed due to the corona virus. The Government Information Service (RVD) announced this on Wednesday.

The visit was scheduled from Monday 13 December to Wednesday 15 December.

The visit was already sensitive because of the refugee crisis. Recently, the case of Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel was added, who had to flee Greece after critical questions to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Beugel asked Mitsotakis in a news conference on Nov. 9 "when would he stop lying" about returning refugee boats through Greece. Mitsotakis then flared up in anger, the images went all over the world.

In addition, a lawsuit is pending in Greece against the Dutch aid worker Pieter Wittenberg. He belongs to a group of 24 aid workers suspected of human smuggling, espionage, money laundering and membership of a criminal organization.

The case will go to court early next year. He faces several years in prison.

[Princess MS]

I always had the impression Maxima has been relatively open about her father and his role in the regime - didn't he not attend her wedding because of that? I'm not sure there is whitewashing going on so much as people recognising that Maxima would have been no more than 12 years old at the end of the regime - so it is fair to punish her for what her father did. Of course the death flights and other atrocities are horrendous and should be investigated and those proven to have been part of it punished. I'm sure this investigation will come to a clear conclusion - at which point we'll be able to tell if there have been any attempts at whitewashing for Maxima or not.

I doubt it .... the regime players would all be dead and I’m guessing there will be no evidence available to be found

[katymc2]

Merry Christmas!

[Kayzilla]

Gosh everybody in this family is so darn pretty. Maxima is looking a little "Real Housewife-y" in the gown and holding the teeny dog, but it's a very good photo overall. I wonder if those hanging things are decorations or permanent fixtures?

[katymc2]

Gosh everybody in this family is so darn pretty. Maxima is looking a little "Real Housewife-y" in the gown and holding the teeny dog, but it's a very good photo overall. I wonder if those hanging things are decorations or permanent fixtures?

I think they are permanent as I remember them from photos when they first moved in. I mean I would have them to if I didn’t have to dust them 

[Principessa]

They have got a new dog?