Will King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? And what about King Philip of the Belgians? Both monarchs were issued with a challenge Monday. The Dutch King was invited to do his part by young DJ Martin Garrix and the Belgian King got his "invite" from Q Music-presenter Sven Ornelis.
The #icebucketchallenge, as explained by Will Oremus of Slate, is a viral phenomenon whose purpose is to raise money for charity. The challenge is simple: Either donate $100 to a given cause, or douse yourself with ice, film it, and pass the challenge on to others via social media.
Read also: Belgian King Philip gets ice buckets ready
The challenge has recently been successfully linked to ALS, but could work for any good cause. And although the ice-drenching is the spectacular and visible part of it, the real purpose is to donate money for research. As Oremus explained:
The way the challenge is set up, the ice-drenching is the alternative to contributing actual money. Some of the people issuing the challenges have tweaked the rules by asking people to contribute $10 even if they do soak themselves. Even so, a lot of the participants are probably spending more money on bagged ice than on ALS research.
The Kings of The Netherlands and Belgium have not publicly responded to the challenge. But Willem-Alexander's wife Queen Máxima famously in 2012 took part in the Amsterdam City Swim, braving the waters of Amsterdam's canals as part of a fund raising for ALS.
© Royalblog, Hans Jacobs; Footage by © NOS; Photo by © Royal Press Europe
Wikipedia: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), Charcot disease, and, in the United States, Lou Gehrig's disease—is a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. It is characterised by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, difficulty in speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and breathing (dyspnea).
See also: Take the “No Ice Bucket” Challenge
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