Posted by joris
on 10/10/2009, 8:15:54, in reply to "Re: Royal Grants for Free Painting,Royal Palace,Amsterdam today"
83.163.27.83
Seeing the Queen at the exhibition I see a relaxed woman who loves being among artists.
But you might be right that when arriving in the morning she was still thinking about Ariane who had fallen ill in the evening before and stayed at hospital and Máxima who had to cancel her programme in Amsterdam because of all this. Also the debate in Parliament, the weeks-long negative/critical publicity, and the personal criticism aimed at herself as a person (many people think she herself should have taken the inititiave to freeze her apanage) and the criticism aimed at Prince of Orange's "attitude" might have had some emotional impact (a fierce "open letter to Willem-Alexander" has been published in HP Magazine this week: titled: "We are fed up" [We zijn u zat] that is: with your behaviour as a spoilt brat, count your many blessings instead instead of whining).
Despite the fact that H.M. had the P.M. to defend the RF. This passivity will stick to Beatrix for a long time although I assume she still enjoys a lot of goodwill but one never knows in times where millions actually vote populist parties that are not too fond of the monarchy these days...
As a perfectionist, control freak, this must have influenced the Queen who will think that she hasn't done things 100% right. Unless she is made of stone, which I don't think is the case... (Her staff should have realized beforehand PR-wise, many of us said here...).
I passed the palace yesterday afternoon and indeed there was NOBODY, not one single person, waiting at the rearside of the palace which usually is the case when "something is going on at the palace". This year: none. Just a lot of police. Gone the relaxed atmosphere in other years. Thank you, Karst T.! 
... I counted 7 police agents in a row, 4 security officers (gorillas with "ears") and four guards of honour (2 on the frontside and 2 on the backside). Also I noticed "attentive men with hawk eyes" near Albert Heijn and the New Church... Police surrounding the palace en masse. So different from other years. I took a photo of the front side. See below.
HM's car was parked inside the wooden fence. Perhaps she got into her car there too? Physically seperated from the public street...
Even I didn't wait to see HM leave the palace: I hastened to do other things (since I had stayed too long at the "At the Russian Court" exhibition at the Amsterdam Hermitage... 
- head still filled with wonderful visual memories: f.i. the outfit of Knights of the Garter and unbelievably beautiful dresses worn by my favourite Danish born Tsarina... And also the wrong PR of the Romanovs crossed my mind... Especially when I saw the photos of the rooms in the Winterpalace after being stormed by The People, 1917...).
Perhaps an overdose of "At the Dutch Court" these months? 
Talked about all this with a friend of mine: a counter offensive could be: make a wonderful 4-6 episodes long documentary about the actual functioning of the monarchy. What exactly is done with the taxpayer's money. Show it! And show the beauty of the buildings in which the monarchy works! Show the beautiful ceremonies. The preparations of State Visits. How are working visits prepared. And please stop focusing on watermanagement/microfinance all the time... Tell us about the history of nice court traditions. The normal routine at court, the stables, the Royal Archives, the Order of the Chanchellery (the decoration system), the protected nature/work at the Royal Dominions, the carriages, etc., etc. People would perhaps understand more of the hard work the core royals carry out. On a daily basis. Show how our Court functions. Why does the monarchy make sense? Instead of the usual silence and limiting oneself to "damage control" or even "no comment". An option perhaps. And no it doesn't help that much can be found on the internet already. The monarchy is no virtual world. It's the real world, brought in practice by people of flesh and blood. Courtiers that perhaps had a little nap... Wake up! Go for it. Work to do! "Werk aan de winkel!" Help H.M. Or like was yelled in the '70s in Britain: "Back the palace!". 
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