The Vorsten magazine has been around for 50 years. And the editors celebrate this with a festive special: HappyRoyals. The special will be available in stores on November 21.
The first edition of Vorsten appeared in April 1973. According to editor-in-chief Alida Dijk, that was of course a very different time. The Netherlands was a lot more Orange-minded. And therein lies the challenge for the editors. After 50 years, Vorsten magazine is still going strong, but its regular subscribers are aging. “We see the average age of the reader increasing. There are also many competing titles, such as Libelle and Nouveau, that now regularly pay attention to the royals. And of course – like almost all magazines in the Netherlands – we also see the number of subscribers decreasing,” says Dijk.
Million views on Reel
But things are also going well. Dijk: “On the other hand, we see our reach on online and social media increasing year on year.” She talks about a Reel that Vorsten posted on Instagram, when Willem-Alexander and Maxima were visiting South Africa. The Reel was viewed more than a million times. “The big challenge for us is to also bring this large digital group to print,” says Dijk.
Who is the Orange fan?
2023 not only marks the anniversary of the magazine Vorsten, but also increasing criticism of the monarchy. Politicians from PvdA/GroenLinks argue for the abolition of the monarchy in their election manifesto. And the NSDAP past of Prince Bernhard and the colonial past of the House of Orange put pressure on public opinion about the monarchy.
According to Alida Dijk, there is still a very large group of Dutch fans of the royal family. She explains that there are two groups of fans: older people (the average age of regular readers of Vorsten magazine is now 70 years old) and young people. Queen Máxima and the princesses in particular attract many young readers online, who marvel at the glamor of the female royals. Vorsten.nl now sees approximately 6 million pages per month. And the Vorsten account on Instagram now has more than 75,000 followers. “Vorsten also sees a bright spot in the fact that single-copy sales are higher this year than in 2022,” says Dijk.
Reader survey
Yet the editors were curious about the opinion of Vorsten’s regular readers about the future of the monarchy. The Netherlands a republic? “Never,” says almost three-quarters of those surveyed. “Yet our readers – largely royalists – have reservations about the functioning of the royal house,” Dijk explains. “44% say that scandals in recent years have damaged trust in the royal family. 51% see the high costs as a disadvantage, 39% the privileges and 25% the succession system.”
Trust in Amalia
The lion’s share of readers (78%) have every confidence in Princess Amalia as the future queen. According to Vorsten readers, the monarchy would benefit from adjustments. This should make it more visible what the king and queen do (75%). The royal couple also has to pay taxes – just like other Dutch people (69%). And the costs of the monarchy must be reduced (53%).
Vorsten organized various activities with readers in October and November 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The anniversary special HappyRoyals is 180 pages thick and has a special cover made by paper artist Geertje Aalders.
In the photo above: the first cover from 1973 and the last cover of the HappyRoyals special.