†Dutch press, fuck off† These are without doubt the most infamous words Willem-Alexander ever spoke to the Dutch press. And yes: it is also well known that he finds it very annoying when that moment comes up again. If the word ‘Ireland’ is used somewhere in relation to the Oranges, it invariably comes to the fore. That moment, a split second actually, that the eleven-year-old prince had a big mouth in 1978. While there was still a microphone open.
Willem-Alexander explains
And yes: we do exactly the same here. We seize an Irish opportunity to rekindle the whole debacle. But with a little extra explanation. Because although you probably knew that Willem-Alexander warned the Dutch press to ‘shut up’ when he was eleven, you probably didn’t know that he said he did so with the best intentions.
At least that’s what he told Renate Rubinstein, who in 1985 was allowed to make a booklet for Willem-Alexander’s 18th birthday. That booklet was reprinted last year after Claudia de Breij’s book about Amalia became such a huge hit. And there appears to be clarification about that Ireland incident.
A position from Beatrix
First, of course, the details behind this famous photo, taken in the town of Sneem on the southwest coast of Ireland. Normally Beatrix, Claus and the princes always summered in their own villa in Porto Ercole, Italy, but that was not an option in 1978. Earlier that year, an Italian ex-Prime Minister was kidnapped and murdered by the communist Red Brigade and the fear was that Beatrix and her family would not be safe there.
They moved to Ireland, where the Dutch and international press were invited for a short photo opportunity on the Atlantic Ocean. Wind, fishing nets, water pistols, that work (oh, and if you could count four princes: Carlos, the son of Princess Irene, was also there, as were his brother and sisters and Queen Juliana). Nothing to worry about. Until the future crown prince (Princess Beatrix was just not a queen at the time) after a camera click said too much: “The Dutch press, fuck off.” That was in the newspapers the next day and could also be seen and heard on television because a microphone of a camera crew from TROS Aktua was just open. Beatrix scolded her eldest son and that seemed to be it.
Red hot with indignation
For weeks afterwards, the papers were full of it, with everything from letters to the editor to outraged journalists. Or, as Renate Rubinstein would so beautifully describe it seven years later: “The press was red-hot with indignation.”
“Aren’t they being raised straight up to be playboys?”, wrote The Telegraph on July 6, 1978. It AD did not want to be inferior to that and on 15 July published an entire page about the ‘disgraceful behaviour’ of the future crown prince. Even his 10- and 11-year-old classmates in Baarn were interviewed, photo and all, and gave startling comments such as: “He’s not nice to me, but he’s not annoying either” and “He’s quite daring.”
Tone lower
Only years later would it become clear that the first media storm surrounding Willem-Alexander originated at a completely different time. That he once shot a ball at a photographer in the months before Ireland was the start. The fact that he and his brothers were shooting pellets at journalists during the parade on Queen’s Day didn’t help either. That cheeky little prince could sing a little lower, seemed the trend. Who knows, without these two moments beforehand, that comment wouldn’t have become a thing at all.
The prince himself said during interviews with Rubinstein at his school in Wales that he really had the best intentions. Rubinstein: “As usual with riots, within a week a counter-current started and at least part of the serious press began to make fun of the unholy indignation of the others. Photographers also spoke in one newspaper who clarified the matter: There had also been the Irish press and it was now their turn, which is why the little prince had said: ‘The Dutch press, fuck off’.”
Rubinstein continues: “It is hard to believe, but in reality the boy was even more brave. Alexander explains: ‘There was a plane leaving for Amsterdam, they had to catch it.’ So he would have wanted to be helpful.”
