Dutch Queen's State Visit to Oman Postponed
THE WASHINGTON POST: THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Dutch Queen Beatrix has postponed a state visit to Oman amid ongoing unrest in the strategic Gulf state.

The monarch had been due to begin a three-day visit to Oman on Sunday, accompanied by heir to the throne Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima. >>> The Associated Press | Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Niederlande: Wilders hält die Fäden wieder in der Hand
WELT ONLINE: Anderthalb Wochen nachdem die Gespräche geplatzt waren, soll der Islamgegner nun wieder eine Hauptrolle bei der Regierungssuche spielen.

Königin Beatrix will Geert Wilders wieder an den Regierungsgesprächen beteiligen. Fotos: Welt Online
Der holländische Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders bekommt nun doch wieder eine Hauptrolle bei der Suche nach einer neuen Regierung für die Niederlande. Der Islamgegner solle erneut mit den Rechtsliberalen (VVD) und den Christdemokraten (CDA) über die Bildung eines von ihm geduldeten Minderheitskabinetts verhandeln.

Mit dieser Empfehlung schloss der von Königin Beatrix eingesetzte Vermittler Herman Tjeenk Willink seine Sondierungsgespräche mit allen zehn im Parlament vertreten Parteien ab.

Die Verhandlungen über einen Koalitionsvertrag zwischen VVD und CDA sowie einen Duldungsvertrag mit Wilders' Partei für Freiheit (PVV) sollten rasch wieder aufgenommen werden, erklärte Willink nach einer Unterredung mit der Königin. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar hinterlassen >>> dpa/sip | Montag, 13. September 2010

Dutch Prince Bernhard 'Was Member of Nazi Party'
THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, was a member of the Nazi party, a new book has claimed, contracting the German-born Dutch war hero's life-long denials.

Prince Bernhard and his daughter Queen Beatrix. Photo: The Telegraph
"Bernhard, a secret history" has revealed that the prince was a member of the German Nazi party until 1934, three years before he married Princess Juliana, the future queen of the Netherlands.

Annejet van der Zijl, a Dutch historian, has found membership documents in Berlin's Humboldt University that prove Prince Bernhard, who studied there, had joined Deutsche Studentenschaft, a National Socialist student fraternity, as well as the Nazi NSDAP and its paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung.

He left all the groups on leaving university in December 1934, when he went to work for the German chemical giant, IG Farben. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Friday, March 05, 2010

Dutch Queen Escapes as Driver Crashes into Crowd, Killing Four
THE TELEGRAPH: A car travelling at high speed ploughed into a crowd waiting for Queen Beatrix of Holland, reportedly killing up to four people.


Witnesses said that the black Suzuki Swift appeared to deliberately target an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family in the town of Apeldoorn during festivities to mark Queen's Day, a national holiday.

The car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people were waiting to see the queen pass, and slammed into the foot of a stone monument, where it came to a halt, its bonnet crumpled and scraped.

The royal bus was not hit, and no one in the queen's entourage was injured, officials said.

But television footage showed members of the royal family, riding in the open top bus, clutch their hands to their mouths in shock as the car sped through a barricade right before their eyes. >>> By Nick Squires | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Queen Beatrix Celebrates Her 70th Birthday with Low-Key Party
Photo of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands courtesy of Google Images
PR-INSIDE.COM: THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch Queen Beatrix celebrated her 70th birthday Thursday with a low-key gathering of close friends at her palace nestled in woods on the edge of The Hague, while her subjects hung the national flag and orange streamers from their homes and public buildings.
Despite the public shows of affection, her birthday comes at a time when a recent speech has sparked criticism for interfering in politics.

In her 2007 Christmas speech, Beatrix said: «Rudeness in word and deed tests the limits of tolerance. Discussions end up in rigid stances _ in that kind of atmosphere people are quickly grouped together and prejudices are accepted as truth. That erodes the community spirit.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party who has warned the Netherlands is in danger of being swamped by «a tsunami of Islamization» and is busy making a film in which he says he will portray the Quran as a «fascist book,» interpreted the comments as an attack on his party, which holds nine of Parliament's 150 seats.

Calling the comments, «multi-culti nonsense,» Wilders said the queen's duties should be limited to «cutting ribbons.»

Under the Dutch constitution, the prime minister is responsible for the queen's speech, and she cannot speak on her own behalf.

The monarchy also came under fire last year when the queen's daughter-in-law Princess Maxima, the Argentine-born wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, said in a speech that there was no such thing as a single Dutch identity. Dutch Queen Beatrix celebrates 70th birthday with low-key party >>> ©AP

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