King Willem-Alexander has revealed that his daughters “see everything” about them posting on social media, but said they need to learn how to deal with online criticism.
Willem-Alexander, 55, told Dutch radio host Edwin Evers on the Through the Eyes of the King podcast yesterday that he has “very open discussions” with his three daughters who are encouraged to share their feelings about online trolls.
Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen Maxima, 51, have three children: Catharina-Amalia, 19, who is heir to the Dutch throne, Alexia, 17, and Ariane, 15.
As quoted in the EN Times, he said: ‘They’re not blind and deaf, they see everything on social media, they read everything, they hear everything. We do not exclude them from anything. And they talk about it.’
“It affects them,” he added, saying that during his time in the public eye, he’s also had to learn how to deal with negative comments on social media.
King Willem-Alexander said his three daughters “see everything” about them posting on social media. In the photo LR: Princess Ariane, King Willem, Princess Alexia, Queen Máxima, Princess Amalia
The monarch explained that he encourages his daughters not to take criticism on social media as a personal attack, saying it was “very annoying” for growing children to see the criticism online.
‘Children have no filter on that, but it is reality and they have to learn to deal with it.’
He said it’s important to teach his kids not to take things personally as for the most part, he believes online trolling isn’t personal.
According to Royal Centralthe king has recorded ten episodes of the podcast to mark his first decade on the Dutch throne.
Elsewhere, Willem-Alexander said in the podcast that he hopes his eldest daughter Catharina-Amalia, formally known as the Princess of Orange, will be able to spend time with herself and her family before she becomes monarch in the ‘distant future’.
He said he wished the heir to the throne plenty of time to prepare for the role so she can start a family or do whatever she wants.
He then revealed that he will sit down with his daughter to decide together when she will take the throne, but added that it was a decision “between Amalia and me.”
He said he has “very open discussions” with his three daughters Catharina-Amalia (center), Alexia (right) and Ariane (left), who are encouraged to share their feelings about online trolls.
King Willem-Alexander spoke yesterday with Edwin Evers about his reign so far in the podcast Through the eyes of the king
King Willem-Alexander said he hopes his eldest daughter, Princess Catharina-Amalia (left), will have time for herself before she becomes queen
Willem-Alexander ascended the throne in 2013 after his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated.
He told Evers that he and his wife found out about his mother’s plans a year and a half before the event and that they were the only people who knew at the time.
In an authorized biography titled Amalia, to be released in 2021, the heir to the throne admitted that she didn’t feel ready to be queen just yet.
She said she would ask her mother to intervene temporarily if her father died suddenly.
“But I told my dad, just keep eating healthy and exercising,” the teen princess added.
The young princess joined her parents for a two-week tour of the Dutch Caribbean islands earlier this year – her first official tour of her career.
The trio traveled to Bonaire, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba to introduce Amalia to those parts of the Caribbean with links to the Netherlands.
The king’s comments about his daughters come after Catharine-Amalia had to leave her home at the University of Amsterdam for safety reasons last year.
The princess began studying political science, psychology, law and economics in September and revealed that she would be living in a rented house with her fellow students, but returned to The Hague the following month due to a mobster’s plot to kidnap her.
Princess Catharina-Amalia, heir to the throne of the Netherlands, had to leave her student house last year because of a gangster plot to kidnap her
Her mother, Queen Maxima (right), said Catharina-Amalia ‘can hardly leave the house’
The young princess joined her parents for a two-week tour to the Dutch Caribbean islands earlier this year – her first official tour of her career
Earlier this year, the royal family opened up about ‘missing normal life’ about the incident and in a clip shared by Dutch broadcaster NOS, she said: ‘I’m going to be very honest, I’m still having a really hard time.
‘I miss normal life, student life. Walking the streets, being able to go to a store,” she added.
Her uncle Prince Constantine spoke out about the princess’s “very narrow” existence.
According to Royal Centralhe said on NPO 1: ‘As a young woman you want to be able to live freely during your student days and she is not allowed that.’
During a state visit to Sweden, Maxima spoke candidly about her daughter’s situation. She was quoted by the Dutch news agency ANP as saying: ‘She can hardly leave the house.
The consequences are very hard on her. For her there is no student life like others.’