Queen Máxima has landed at San Francisco airport for her working visit to the United States. Actually, King Willem-Alexander would also go to California and Texas, but because of pneumonia he is not allowed to fly. He therefore canceled the trip on Thursday on medical advice.
Making a plane trip could hinder the full recovery of the pneumonia, according to the Government Information Service. The trip lasts until Friday.
On Tuesday, the Queen will meet the mayor of San Francisco. She then visits the neighborhood ‘The Castro’, known for its LGBTI community, and gives an evening speech at a networking reception in San Francisco City Hall.
On Thursday she will speak in the city of Austin with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is known for his very conservative views on abortion, among other things. Texas has one of the strictest abortion laws in the US: an abortion is banned after six weeks.
The Queen has gone to the United States with a number of ministers. Minister Schreinemacher (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation), Minister Kuipers (Public Health), Minister Dijkgraaf (Education) and State Secretary Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management) are on board.
A large part of the working visit is devoted to the economic ties between the Netherlands and California and Texas. Climate and energy, water management and (biomedical) sciences will also be discussed.
For example, together with the Queen, they will visit Silicon Valley and speak with Dutch entrepreneurs in California. In Houston, badly hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, knowledge is also being exchanged on how to combat flooding.
It is the first time since 2015 that the Queen will travel to the US for a working visit. In that year they met, among others, the then President Barack Obama. The Oranges did not visit when Republican Donald Trump was president. No meeting with current President Joe Biden is scheduled during this work trip.