Lale Gül thinks that the strange behavior of Countess Eloise, but also of her mother Princess Laurentien, poses a direct threat to the monarchy. “The Oranjes behave like average celebrities.”
It is that Princess Beatrix is still alive, otherwise she would be turning in her grave: the behavior of Princess Laurentien and her daughter Countess Eloise is intolerable. Laurentien projects the suffering of her enslaved ancestors onto herself in a TV program, after which Eloise has a pleasant one watch party for that slavery program.
Watch party
Writer and opinion maker Lale Gül finds it insane that Eloise herself does not see how ridiculous such a watch party is. “In this way, in one Instagram story, the history of millions of enslaved people was relegated to a content moment by Eloise van Oranje.”
The word ‘watch party’ alone horrifies her, she continues in her column The Telegraph. “It suggests pouring wine for deep sorrow, sharing snacks for historical trauma.”
Bumbling
Laurentien’s posturing in that slavery program is also cringeworthy, says Lale. “It no longer becomes: ‘What has been done to all those people?’, but: ‘Look how deeply this affects me’.”
It is better if the Oranjes do not portray themselves in this way, she continues. “A monarchy lives by the grace of imagination. Visibility is fatal to mysticism. The more we see them bumbling, the more we think: we can do this ourselves.”
Celebrity family
If all those Oranges are just as clumsy as the ordinary people, why should we feel like subjects? Lale wonders. “The royal family is increasingly behaving like an average celebrity family with a larger budget. And that is disastrous.”
“Because if they’re just as fallible, self-righteous, and clumsy as we are, why do we pay them?”