Arjen Lubach has refused an invitation from the royal couple to join a celebrity lunch. “I can’t do that, because then I will end up liking them very much,” he says.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima periodically invite a group of Dutch people for the so-called Uitblinkerslunch at Noordeinde Palace. During this lunch, the Oranjes personally thank their guests for their contribution to society. With a hand, a chat and a place at the table, right in front of the king himself.
Outstanding Lubach
Tex de Wit, one of Arjen Lubach’s sidekicks, notes in the chat section of their satirical show that he would like to have Willem-Alexander in the show. “I think it would be nice if the king comes one day. You and the king, and we don’t prepare anything. Just half an hour and: enjoy! And then see what happens.”
Arjen then reveals that he has been invited to that excellent lunch. “I thought I had screwed up, because I had been imitating him and his wife so often for so long. Then I thought: if someone did that to my wife, I would never want to speak to him again. But I was invited to such a lunch at the palace last year, two years ago.”
Arjen didn’t go
Arjen let it go. “I didn’t go! No, then I won’t go.”
Why he was invited? The TV star had won something. “It was a prize, yes. Then they invite you to one of those excellent lunches, but I thought: I can’t make that, because then I will like them very much. That’s possible, isn’t it? That you meet Máxima and think: oh, that’s one of the nicest platonic crushes that I ever had!”