Many people know that there is a chance that King Willem-Alexander might even fly you to your holiday destination as a pilot. Our monarch has also been a co-pilot at KLM for decades and is occasionally spotted in his uniform at Schiphol. But Willem-Alexander is not the only Orange you can bump into at Schiphol. His cousin Prince Pieter-Christiaan sometimes also works there and yesterday checked passports at the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
Pieter-Christiaan is no stranger to the Marechaussee. He fulfilled his military service there until 1992 and worked there again between 2004 and 2009. Since 2018 he has been a reserve colonel at the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
Travelers at Schiphol could meet the prince yesterday at passport control. Pieter-Christiaan is not nearly as well known as his cousin Willem-Alexander, but this time he probably stood out a bit more, because he was followed by a photographer.
Eye in the sail
The prince himself tweeted today about his work and about a project for which he was captured by Royal Family photographer Patrick van Katwijk. In addition to the photo of the princely passport control, you can see that Pieter-Christiaan keeps an eye on the line of border guards at Schiphol.
Willem Alexander
Cousin Willem-Alexander had been working as a Fokker 70 pilot at KLM Cityhopper since the 1990s when he was still a prince. When that aircraft type became in 2017 phased out, the king was retrained as a Boeing 737 pilot. In addition to his flying work at KLM, he also regularly flies the government aircraft himself PH GOV.