They have shared classrooms during the two years that they have studied Baccalaureate at the UWC Atlantic College in Wales, in the United Kingdom. But Leonor and Alexia are united by something more important: they are both princesses. From Asturias and Holland, to be more exact. Her parents, the kings of Spain and the Netherlands, respectively, met last year at their daughters’ graduation ceremony.
It is just one of the similarities between the current Spanish and Dutch monarchies, but the list is much longer: the king William of Holland and Philip VI are of the same generation, They married in 2002, the first, and 2004 the second (both with professional women outside the royal houses) and Felipe VI has just completed a decade on the throne, an anniversary that William celebrated last year. The two began their reign after their predecessors abdicated.
The visit of the kings to the Netherlands has focused on the economy, politics and culture
A close friendship
But there is more. In the case of the daughters of both marriages, the kings of Holland have three daughters who are also of similar ages, which brings us to our starting point: the fact that the median of the Dutch has coincided with the Spanish heiress in class.
Before such a large number of parallels, it seemed easy for the four monarchs to fail to strengthen ties. Themselves They qualify as friends. In fact, after the proclamation of Felipe VI, the first country to which he traveled with Queen Letizia was the Netherlands and only two months ago they made a new state visit.
On this last occasion, during the dinner that the Dutch kings offered to the Spanish, William once again mentioned the bond that unites them and thanked them for would have protected their firstborn, Princess Amalia, the months he was living in Madrid. The heir to the Dutch throne has been threatened by the mafia for two years, as confirmed by the Dutch intelligence services. “It was a moving proof of friendship in a difficult period. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to Her Majesties, and to all those who collaborated in that effort,” she said during her speech.
Common goal: modernize the monarchy
The four monarchs have one last link: They share the objective of modernizing and getting closer to citizens. On the streets of Amsterdam, when we ask what they think of their kings, they give us all kinds of answers.
Comments that, on the other hand, we could also hear in our country. For example, Willemijn believes that the monarchy is a good institution to defend the Netherlands’ commercial interests abroad: “When the Dutch royal family makes a state visit they are always accompanied by commercial missions and we need that to maintain our economic position,” says.
However, Eric does not have such an optimistic view: “It seems ridiculous to me that we pay them such high salaries and compensation when they are one of the richest families in the world. They do not deserve privileges just for being born into a royal family. Yes, more protection, there I agree,” he says. In the Netherlands, it must be taken into account that, in addition to the public allowance that members of the royal house have, they receive public money. They also do it in Spain, but in the Dutch case, they are also exempt from paying taxes.
An institution like the monarchy depends on the acceptance of citizens to guarantee its survival. In the case of Spain, the CIS has not asked about Felipe VI’s assessment since 2015. In Holland, King William’s acceptance has dropped from the 80% it had when he acceded to the throne, to the 55% it has now. This loss of popularity probably had something to do with the bad image she gave when she went on vacation with her family to Greece in the middle of the pandemic or the party he organized for her daughter at that time. She apologized, but, according to the surveys, these episodes have taken their toll on her.
Felipe VI has celebrated his ten years in office with official events. William of Holland already did it in 2023, but in the Netherlands there are a big difference with respect to Spain. Every year the monarch’s birthday is a national holiday and the streets are filled with orange and people ready to enjoy themselves and that, some Dutch jokingly tell us, would be a shame to lose.
