King Willem-Alexander and his mother Princess Beatrix smiling at the people who pay for their palaces Somewhere along the line the Dutch went from total football to total monarchy. King Willem-Alexander is one of the richest men in the world today. His wealth is estimated to be over $20 billion but it is probably much more than that. And the Dutch monarchy pays no taxes. But it doesn't really matter because they are forked over hundreds of millions in "subsidies" each year by their friends in the Dutch cabinet and legislature. The notion that the Dutch monarchy is a politically passive institution with limited constitutional powers is perhaps the biggest and longest lasting cultural myths in the Netherlands. Or should I say Kingdom of the Netherlands? You won't read about this because -- unlike the British tabloids -- the Dutch media rarely write critical articles about its own monarchy (but they love trashing the British monarchy). Let's just say, the
A blog by Theo Bruinsma about memoirs and meditations: Brishon driving a Citroën SM in San Francisco; Christine disappearing behind the curtains of The Stark Club in Dallas; Angelique meeting me at the train station in Brunnik via Utrecht, the Netherlands. And Dutch politics featuring Thierry Baudet, Geert Wilders, Pim Fortuyn and the shady Dutch monarchy. "The age of the skyscraper is gone. This is the age of the housing project" -- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, De Eeuwige Bron