Dutch Princess Amalia celebrates her 18th birthday today: I'm not ready to be queen
The eldest daughter of Dutch King Willem-Alexander recently made headlines when she waived her right to her large $ 2 million (€ 1,6 million) allowance, saying she felt uncomfortable taking the money when she did nothing. to earn them. Now 18 years old, she is stirring up the public with the statement that she is not ready to take the throne if that happens.
Amalia, who finished school this summer with top grades, is currently taking an empty year but plans to go to university, ostensibly to study "something international or something related to economics" in 2022.
The princess will also be sworn in as a member of Raad van State, the government's top advisory group, on Wednesday. Like her father, King Willem-Alexander, Amalia will not have the right to vote, but will speak at a ceremony on December 8.
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The princess has already stated that she will not exercise her right to vote in the Dutch elections, like her father and grandmother. Earlier this year, she sent a handwritten note to Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying she did not want to use her 1,6m-euro-a-year allowance until she took office.
Accepting the money, she said, would make her feel "uncomfortable" until she did a little bit in return "and that other students face many more difficulties, especially in the coronavirus era".
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Now, Princess Katarina-Amalia as heiress has revealed that if her 54-year-old father dies or unexpectedly relinquishes the throne, she would like her 50-year-old mother, Queen Maxima, to temporarily take the throne.
However, she is still committed to the service life.
"If I can prevent a bad situation through diplomacy, if I can make the world a little better, then I'm happy. I am in the service of my country. "I give my life to the Netherlands."
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What is it like to be a princess in real life?
On her birthday, she publishes a new book, Amalia, which gives readers an insight into the teenage girl's life, schooling, her occasional work in a beach cafe and her love of tiaras and unprecedented photos of her family.
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Claudia de Bray, a popular Dutch writer and singer, was commissioned by the royal family and the Dutch government intelligence service to give readers a deeper look at the princess's life.
The biography was published to mark the 18th birthday of the future Dutch queen - which was similarly done for the 18th birthday of her grandmother Princess Beatrix in 1956 and her father in 1985.
"I want tiaras. Show me a tiara and I'll know where it comes from. I can recognize all the tiaras in Europe. I used to put them on from my mother. "If there was one on her makeup table, it would be right on my head," Princess Amalia said in the book.
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Future queen
If her father dies, Amalia will be the one to inherit the throne and become queen. But less than a month ago, information came out that Amalia had told comedian Claudia de Bray that she would ask her mother to finish the job in a few years.
"More than that, I told my father to continue eating healthy and doing a lot of sports," De Bray quoted Amalia as saying in a new book about her life.
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In the book, the princess also revealed that she talked to a psychologist when she was younger and still speaks whenever she feels the need.
"I do not think it is taboo and I do not mind talking about it in public. "It's perfectly normal to talk to a professional, especially after what happened to my aunt," she said, referring to the suicide of her mother Ines's younger sister.
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Life choices
Republican Floris Miller said she understood Amalia and thought she was a "very smart girl".
"Then do something about it. Make your choice. Go into politics or industry. "What would she really like to do and where are her ambitions?" Was the advice he said he would give to the princess.
Amalia herself stated in 2019 that she does not want to become a "showbiz version" of herself.
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He also cites an interview given by Willem-Alexander in which he said he felt a responsibility to "prepare her as best she could, to help her get to know herself as well as possible" and to be as complete as possible. '
The king said that before his inauguration "her first question to me was: how old will you be?" More like: then I can already write it in my diary. "