Evert Sankrediets thought that the whole country would be turned upside down: Mark Rutte who is on the cover of Privé in his swimming trunks. Well, not a rooster crows. Including the Prime Minister himself.
The day before yesterday, private editor-in-chief Evert Sankrediets announced the latest edition of his magazine with great fanfare. “Tomorrow, because today it will be the calm before the storm, then the new Privé will be released and I really think… I predict that someone will be completely shocked tomorrow. That is a high-profile report,” he said.
Everts mega news
Evert really announced it as if he was going to bring the first photos of Jeroen Rietbergen to Ilse DeLange’s driveway: “I had that scoop by Frank Masmeijer a few weeks ago and I’m only cautiously comparing it to that. I think there is a lot to do about the new Privé of tomorrow.”
The new Privé rolled into the newsstand yesterday and it was one big deception: the ‘huge’ news was that Mark Rutte was photographed at his holiday address in Austria. Well, the Prime Minister in a swimming trunks, we were completely shocked. Boy, boy.
Rutte in swimsuit
Evert himself is very proud of it. He says in the podcast Strictly Private: “Our prime minister imagined himself unobserved on his balcony during his holiday in Austria. He has overlooked our photographer there for a long time, who nicely maps out how Rutte celebrated his holiday.”
Did anything newsworthy come out of that photo report? No. “He is on vacation alone. It is a special report of a rather strange figure, I may say, who sits alone on a balcony and spends the whole day texting and calling and apparently sees that as a holiday.”
Special paparazzi work
Evert thinks it is strange that Rutte has not done anything at all. “It is a beautiful hotel with spacious rooms. He sat there for a few days. Downstairs is a fantastic swimming pool and he didn’t even dare to go there. You would do that anyway, because temperatures in Austria also rise to above 30 degrees.”
Yesterday he counted on getting an angry prime minister on the phone: “I think we’ll hear about that. I think he’s mostly surprised he didn’t see it. It is special paparazzi work.”
‘Heard nothing more’
Today, a day after the release of the Privé, Evert comes to the conclusion that there is no need to worry. He has not heard from Rutte. “No, it has remained very quiet. Either he’s stunned that he didn’t notice he’s been photographed so lavishly or ehh… I think he’s going to ignore it.”
“That does not alter the fact that the Netherlands does have a nice insight into his private life, as we did not have before.”
Private cover
The historical cover of the Privé: