Posted by Henri M
on 7/11/2009, 12:13:25, in reply to "Re: Dutch royals' chat with the press"
85.145.85.203
In yesterday's off-the-record press talk (so word-for-word quotations are not allowed) the Prince showed he had the same dry humour as his late father, Prince Claus.
Criticism on holiday retreat has hit Prince
MEXICO CITY - Prince Willem-Alexander has had sleepless nights because of the recent fuss about his holiday retreat in Mozambique. The criticism 'has hit him', he told the Dutch press in Mexico.
The Prince added that his work in and for the Netherlands is the most important in his life. If there is doubt about that, it would hurt him deeply. Furthermore the Prince did not address the issue but referred to a letter which the Cabinet will send to the Second Chamber.
The Queen also said to have been hit by all the criticism. She made clear that she has no doubt about the good intentions of the princely couple and called upon the press, please, to report honestly and fair on the issue. According the Queen many things were written and displayed in the media of which the involved know that these were 'colored in'.
It was the first time since all the recent commotion that members of the Royal House have publicly expressed themselves on the case.
Thursday the Prince of Orange also made a slip of the tongue in a speech to Mexican businessmen. The Prince quoted a Mexican proverb that says 'a shrimp that sleeps is carried away by the tide'. Through a translation error he had the Spanish word for tide (corriente) replaced by chingada. And so he had the shrimp not carried away by the tide, but 'going to the nuts' (the male parts these are). It made the some turmoil in the Mexican press.
The prince handily saved it by himself: Let us not make a whale out of a shrimp. "This is a very old Mexican saying that I have looked for" the Prince joked. Princess Máxima thought her spouse had pronounced the unfortunate saying quite well. "I was very proud of him". As an Argentinean she did not know the meaning the word chingada has in Mexico. In the morning the Prince had practiced the pronouncation with Princess Máxima. "My mirror told me that it was good, well..., the pronouncation indeed".
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