They have already been more popular: In a survey, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima received unusually poor grades. The reason for this: a trip to Greece.
According to a survey, the Dutch King Willem-Alexander gambled away the trust of many compatriots with several missteps in the Corona crisis. Only 47 percent of the Dutch are clearly satisfied with their king – that is about 30 percentage points less than in the spring, according to a survey by the Ipsos Institute published in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
Even Queen Máxima, who has been the most popular member of the Oranje family for years, is down: 61 percent of citizens are satisfied with her, more than 20 percentage points less than in spring.
Image damage after Corona misstep
The reason for the unusually poor grades is the misconduct of the royal couple in the Corona crisis, as can be seen from the survey carried out on behalf of the TV magazine “Nieuwsuur”. Almost 70 percent of the Dutch say that this has seriously damaged the image of the Orange.
In the autumn, the royal family flew to their holiday home in Greece on the government plane – although the government had urged citizens to stay at home as much as possible. The anger in the country was great and the king decided to break off the vacation.
Birthday party despite Corona
Just a few days later it came out that two of the three princesses had stayed in the Greek villa. The outrage was so great that Willem-Alexander and Máxima apologized to the people via video. They are not “infallible,” said the monarch.
Before that, a photo had caused a stir in the summer: It showed the royal couple in Greece with the owner of a restaurant – without a safety distance of 1.5 meters.