Dutch princess ‘can’t really go outside’ after threats

The goal for Princess Amalia of the Netherlands as she went off to college last month at the University of Amsterdam was for her to live life like a regular student as much as possible, moving into a house with other students and studying politics and law.
The reality for the 18-year-old future queen turned out to be something altogether different. On Thursday, her parents, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, said that she had moved back home and was largely confined to one of the royal family’s palaces in The Hague because of fears that she would be attacked or abducted.
“It has enormous consequences for her life,” Maxima said at a news conference Thursday during a state visit to Sweden. “It means that she’s not living in Amsterdam and that she can’t really go outside.”
It was a rare peek into life for the Dutch royals, who rarely share details about their private lives or matters of security, and represented something of a shock in the Netherlands, where high-profile figures can live their lives relatively unbothered.
Amalia got a taste of life in the spotlight when her first day at the university caused a small press frenzy, with photographers snapping pictures of her walking into a building for her first class.
Princess Amalia arrives at the University of Amsterdam for her first day of college. (Image: © RVD – Mischa Schoemaker)
The initial commotion after she arrived soon dissipated, but then came the threat to her security. “It’s not a student life like other students have,” Maxima said. “I’m very proud of how she is persevering through all of this.”
The University of Amsterdam declined to comment about any potential changes to its security. The Dutch Government Information service, which handles press relations for the royal family, declined to elaborate on the remarks.
In an earlier attempt at normalcy, the princess told Prime Miner Mark Rutte in a letter last year that she would decline an annual allowance of about $1.6 million from the government.
“I find that uncomfortable as long as I am not doing a lot in return and other students have it much harder,” Amalia wrote. Her status as a member of the royal family, of course, means that money is not an issue.

Princess Amalia’s introduction to the Council of State upon turning 18(screengrabs from NOS live feed) pic.twitter.com/QYxIdW9wlP
— Patricia Treble (@PatriciaTreble) December 8, 2021
After finishing high school in June 2021, Amalia took a gap year that included some charity work. Her plans for that year were mostly kept private.
But some details about her life have emerged now and then. A book that was published to mark the princess’s 18th birthday talked about her stint as a bartender at a beach club, and her horse, Mojito.
“It’s horrible that this is necessary, first and foremost for the crown princess,” Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, the Dutch miner of justice and safety, wrote on Twitter. “I can’t say anything about concrete threats or specific security measures, but I guarantee that the security agencies are working day and night to guarantee her safety.”
Public threats or attacks on the Dutch royal family are rare. In 2009, a Dutch man drove a car into a crowd during a Queen’s Day celebration, killing seven people. In the 1970s, a politically motivated plot to kidnap the then-queen, Juliana, was thwarted.
Last month, newspaper De Telegraaf reported that security measures had been increased for the princess as well as for Rutte after authorities concluded they were at higher risk of an attack or kidnapping members of organised crime gangs.
Family holiday (circa 2011). This photo comes from the private archive of the Princess of Orange and was used in the book Amalia. (Image: © RVD)
Last year, security was temporarily increased for Rutte, and he halted his usual bicycle commute in The Hague after similar threats that were believed to have come from crime gangs.
Jelle van Buuren, an expert in radicalism and terrorism who teaches at the University of Leiden, said the idea that the threat was coming from organised crime was credible.
Organised crime in the Netherlands has hardened and become more brutal over the last decade or more, van Buuren said, partly fueled recent high-profile killings, like that of celebrity crime reporter Peter R de Vries.
Crime gangs were also blamed for the killing of lawyer Derk Wiersum, who was involved in a trial in which multiple defendants, including Ridouan Taghi, described authorities as the ringleader of a drug trafficking organization, were accused of involvement in six murders and four attempted murders between 2015 and 2017.
The royal family is always protected a security detail, van Buuren said, “but that doesn’t mean there’s always an ongoing threat. It’s just part of protocol.” But, he added, “it’s surprising that Maxima herself brought it up.”
During the king’s annual budget speech last month, he said that eradicating organised crime had become the “highest priority,” and he announced plans for new policies and funding that would go toward that goal.
In an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS, Rutte called the developments regarding Amalia “horrible news.”
It is not clear when Amalia might be able to leave the palace to roam more freely again. For now, she is allowed to attend classes, but that’s all, her mother said.
“You can see it’s making me a bit emotional,” Maxima said. “It’s not nice to see your child like this.”