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Originally Posted by AlphaKilo what do you mean incognito? Does he uses a beard and a mustache to hide his identity (like indian bollywood villians) and if so how is the security check able to identify him (at the end of the he is a person and needs to be identified) at airports? I am his security detail also travel along with him during such flights! So much expense to keep one man's licence alive and who is paying for all those expenses?
Not to damage his Reputation or not out of disrespect to the Dutch King but out of sheer curiosity and as a tax paying citizen I am always amazed at how these elite class/ruler class always tend to enjoy at our expenses, be it India or elsewhere. If he pays for it out of his own pocket, well and good! |
He is incognito in the sense that the passengers are not aware it is the King up front. The crew is aware and he insists on being just a regular crew member so they don’t call him your royal highness, just Alex. He mingles and socialises with the crew as much as possible as any regular crew member would do
He has flown the previous Dutch Governmental plane Fokker F70, but also has a Boeing 737 type rating. At the time KLM city hopper operated Fokker F70 and he used to fly twice a month. When the government decided the F70 needed replacing by something a bit more modern, he got his 737 type rating. As far as I am aware he pays for himself although this is not clear I don’t think KLM pays him a salary either. One thing is clear, by having him pilot the government plane we are saving on a pilot salary as such!
Our King does require security, but it is very small and you won’t notice it.
I once did notice our King walking through the terminal building, with the rest of the crew, to his plane. You would be hard pressed to distinguish him from any of the regular crews/pilots roaming the terminal.
Dutch royalty keeps a very low profile and most of them like to engage and be amongst the Dutch public by themselves. These days it has become a bit more of a problem due to security/safety concerns.
Some years ago, whilst still living near the Hague, my wife bumped into Queen Beatrix inside a shop. Literally. She sort of stepped back whilst turning and bumped into this other woman. Whom happened to be the Dutch Queen doing some of her own shopping. They both said something along the line of “oh I am sorry” and went on shopping both of them. My wife never noticed security.
The King and Queen children attend regular schools, just like they did. Yes, there is security, but again very much hidden.
Many Dutch are quite fond of the Royal Family. They like and appreciate the fact that the Dutch royals, try to act as ordinary Dutch citizens in many ways. Obviously, there are restrictions these days and people are appreciative of that.
Dutch people are more likely to be appreciative of the fact, that the royal family does live a bit in a golden cage than worry about cost of security. It is the price of democracy these days.
The one thing that hits the news now and then is what is cost to have a Royal Family, what do we the tax payers pay for, how much do they earn, how much do they pay for themselves. But in general that rarely becomes a big issue.
These dates, to the best of my knowledge we don’t have a single political party (and we have dozens and dozens of political parties) that want to change our constitutional monarchy into something else. It is simply not an issue. By and large the Royal family is pretty popular with the Dutch.
Personally, I don’t like the idea of a monarchy. I think it is a totally outdated concept. But then again, it does bring certain value/things to many people and there are much bigger and important issues that need addressing. In the Netherlands the King has absolutely no formal role to play in politics. So we are a parliamentary democracy with a Royal as formal head of state. But as such all he/she does is sign of anything the government/parliament decides.
King Willem Alexander addressed the nation a few weeks ago on the Corona crisis. Having the king/queen addressing the nation is almost unheard of. But many people felt he did a really good job. Calling for unity and joint approach to this crisis.
Jeroen