Since her 18th birthday at the end of 2021, Princess Amalia has been entitled to a statutory benefit, a total of more than 1.8 million euros for this year. In a letter to Prime Minister Rutte, she announced that she would refund this benefit before her 18th birthday. ‘I find that uncomfortable as long as I have little to offer in return and other students are having a much more difficult time, especially in these corona times.’
Now that she has to incur more and more costs in her position as Princess of Orange, as her official title is, she writes to the Prime Minister that she will no longer return the part that she can use for expenses (1.5 million) as of January 1, 2025. However, she will continue to do so with the income portion (322,000 euros) until the end of her studies.
‘With the passage of time and after surprising circumstances, it is now foreseeable that I will have to take into account personnel and material expenses with a view to an independent and independent fulfillment of my position, including a secretariat and reservations for a living and working accommodation’ , the now 20-year-old princess now writes to Prime Minister Rutte. By the ‘surprising circumstances’, Amalia refers to the serious threats against her, which forced her to live ‘at home’ again in the early stages of her studies, with her parents at Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.
From Madrid to Amsterdam
Last year, for the same reasons, she largely stayed in the Spanish capital Madrid, where she had more freedom of movement than in the Netherlands. From Madrid she continued her studies in Politics, Psychology, Law & Economics at the University of Amsterdam. Last April, during the state visit of the Spanish royal couple, Amalia’s father King Willem-Alexander thanked the Spanish people, King Felipe and Queen Letizia for their hospitality. “A moving demonstration of friendship in a difficult time,” the monarch said in his table speech at the state banquet in the palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam.
Amalia has been living and studying in that city for several months, as was planned until the threats came to light. That threat has not gone away, but by taking unspecified measures she can now live in Amsterdam.
From Amalia’s letter to Prime Minister Rutte, it can be concluded that Amalia will have a private secretary to assist her next year. The most suitable candidate for this seems to be Eveline van den Bent, a confidante of Amalia and her sisters. The earlier nanny van de Oranjes, who is currently private secretary to the royal couple, is always present when Amalia appears somewhere in her role as princess. For example, she traveled to the Antilles, where Amalia was presented in early 2023 and is always there on King’s Day. Amalia said about Van den Bent to her biographer Claudia de Breij in 2021: “She knows us quite well. She understands what I don’t like and she can tell when I’m tired of a photo shoot.”
By ‘reservations for a place to live and work’, Amalia means that she will be saving to buy a house after her studies, from where she can also work. Her father, the then Prince Willem-Alexander, bought the building at Noordeinde 66 in The Hague from his grandmother, Princess Juliana, in 1993 after studying history. In that house, next to the Noordeinde work palace, Willem-Alexander first lived alone and later with Máxima, until the couple moved to villa Eikenhorst in Wassenaar in 2003.
In his response to Amalia, Prime Minister Rutte writes that he has ‘understanding and appreciation for your personal considerations’. The Prime Minister also wishes the Princess ‘good luck in furthering your studies’. Rutte informed the House of Representatives by letter about his correspondence with Amalia.
In total, Princess Amalia has returned more than 5.2 million euros to the treasury since her 18th birthday.
Keep an eye on our site for the latest episodes of our podcast ‘Van Oranje’, a series about the most remarkable Oranges from the rich history of our royal family.
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