Thursday 5 December 2013

Royal round up, week ending November 30th 2013 - Belgium and the Netherlands

A round up of all the news from Europe's royal houses for the week ending November 30th...the focus now on Belgium and the Netherlands

Belgium

 
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians held a reception on November 27th 2013 for members of the B-Fast team who had been to the Philippines to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan earlier in the month.  The members of the team - the Belgian First Aid and Support Team, set  up in 2000 to offer overseas emergency help - met the king and queen at the Laeken Palace.
 
 
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were joined by Belgian prime minister, Elio di Rupo, for the reception at the Laeken Palace on November 27th 2013 for members of the overseas emergency help team, B-Fast
 
The rest of the king's week was taken up with audiences.  On November 25th he held his regular meeting with prime minister, Elio di Rupo, who also attended the B-Fast reception later that week.  On November 29th 2013, King Philippe met the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at the Royal Palace in Brussels and later that same day the king held an audience with Belgium's employment minister, Monica de Coninck.  And Queen Paola made just her second public appearance since her recent operation when she attended a concert in Brussels on the afternoon of November 30th organized by the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and Equinox. 
 
 
Queen Paola of the Belgians at a concert in Brussels on November 30th 2013
 
Princess Astrid spent most of the week in India on a trade visit where she carried out a series of engagements to promote Belgian business.  The trip, from November 23rd to November 29th, was made on behalf of the king and the princess was accompanied by several ministers.  And Prince Laurent and Princess Claire attended the 25th annual Caius de Promethea awards in Brussels on November 27th which celebrate cultural and architectural achievements.
 
 
Princess Astrid of Belgium writing in the visitors' book at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate, in New Delhi during her five day visit to the country.  The memorial commemorates70,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War One fighting for the British army
 
 

The Netherlands

 
 
King WIllem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were present at the start of a series of events to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the modern kingdom of the Netherlands.  On Saturday November 30th they visited the spot at Scheveningen where Prince William Frederick of Orange landed on November 30th 1813, eighteen years after his father, William V, had fled to England to escape the French invasion.  Later on November 30th 2013, the king, queen and former queen, Beatrix,  took part in ceremonies in The Hague before the whole royal family attended the annual Kingdom Concert at the Circus Theatre.   
 
 
 King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima take centre stage at the end of the concert held on November 30th 2013, the day the Netherlands began two years of celebrations to mark the bicentenary of the formation of this kingdom
 
Earlier in the week, the king and queen had hosted a symposium at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on the genetics and the secrets of the human genome.  Princess Beatrix was also present at the event, one of two lectures organized every year by the Royal Palace Foundation.  On the same day, King Willem-Alexander was at the Nooreinde Palace in The Hague to receive the credentials of the new ambassadors form Japan and Lesotho.  Willem-Alexander's engagements for November 27th also included receiving a copy of the first permanent stamp to bear his image as a king.  The event took place in The Hague.
 
 
 The first stamp bearing the image of Willem-Alexander as King of the Netherlands was unveiled in The Hague on November 27th 2013
 
On November 28th, King Willem-Alexander was in Nieuwegen to see the work of a night school offering support to adults who need help with language and learning.  On the same day, the king attended the jubilee conference of  the Aedes Housing Association where he heard speeches and debates on issues including care and the price of housing.
 
 
 King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at the housing conference in ’s-Hertogenbosch he attended on November 28th 2013 to mark the 100th anniversary of Aedes - an association of
housing associations
 
On November 29th the king held a farewell audience with the outgoing Turkish ambassador, Z.E. Uğur Doğan, at the Eikenhorst Villa in Wassenaar.  And later that same day he was back in Amsterdam, at the Nieuwe Kerk, to receive copies of the new biographies of his predecessors on the throne of the Netherlands, Kings William I, II and III.
 
 
 King Willem-Alexander receives biographies on three earlier Dutch kings at a ceremony in Amsterdam on November 29th 2013
 
Queen Maxima was in the Schipol district of Amsterdam on November 26th 2013 where she opened the new barracks of the Royal Military Police in the district - the building has been named after her.
 
 
The queen of the Netherlands opens the Queen Maxima Barracks in Schipol on November 26th 2013
 
On the dame day, Princess Beatrix attended the jubilee conference of PUM - an organization which channels voluntary work from managers and businesspeople in the Netherlands to areas of the world where expertise is needed.  It took place in Rotterdam.
 
 
 Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands at the conference held to mark the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the PUM organization.  The event took place in Rotterdam on November 26th 2013

 

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