No less than three members of the Dutchy royal family visited the southern province of Limburg at the same time on Friday, although they did not meet.
Prince Willem-Alexander was for a working visit in this province bordering on Germany and Belgium. He went to see new developments surrounding the A2 motorway near Sittard-Geleen; and near a land winning site near the city of Heerlen.
The prince regularly pays these working visits, organised by the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Development and the Environment, to get acquainted with new developments in the country.
His younger brother Prince Constantijn was a few kilometres down the same motorway, in the Limburg capital of Maastricht. He visited the international art and antique fair, The European Fine Art Fair, to once again draw attention to the 'Cultural Emergency Response' (CER) programme of the Prince Claus Fund. CER is meant to give first aid after cultural disasters; man-made or caused by natural disasters.
Afterwards he toured the Fair; but missed seeing Princess Marilène, wife of his cousin Prince Maurits. She works for the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, sking people to become 'Friends' of the national museum. ,,He was here and didn't stop by?", she asked with mocked indignation when she was told Constantijn had already left the Maastrict Congress and Convention Centre.
Limburg is often said to be the least "Orange" minded of the twelve Dutch provinces. The royals in far-away The Hague - anything over 2 hours driving is far-away in a small country like The Netherlands - are said to neglect or forget their countrymen in Limburg.
A poll on the eve of a visit of Queen Beatrix to the province in 2005 said as much. ,,Polls say whatever you want them to say", the queen retorted. And the provincial governor showed that the queen does not visit Limburg any more or less than the other provinces.
© RB; Photo by © CP Frank van Beek
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