This blog has skewed too heavily towards males, particularly the historical kind. Let’s balance that out today by recounting a recent episode wherein the Dutch parliament was invited to speculate about a teenage girl’s sexual preferences.
That’s not a joke! Princess Amalia expressed support for LGBT issues during her high school years which puts her squarely in the category of normal Gen Z kid. (She might also have poured you a beer in a bar on the beach in the Hague.)
Her open-mindedness drew the attention of Peter Rehwinkel, a legislator who wrote a book in 2021 questioning whether Amalia could assume the throne of the House of Orange-Nassau if she were to enter into a same-sex marriage. Gay marriage has been legal since 2001 in the Netherlands (first country in the world!) but it wasn’t clear that the royal family enjoyed the same rights as their subjects.
Just when you think you’re looking at a humane and tolerant culture you’re reminded of the impersonal prerogatives of monarchism. Being a princess must be like a fox in captivity, raised only for her fur. Although the parliament rebuked Rehwinkel and declared that a same-sex marriage would not automatically bar an heir to the throne, it is still not clear that the child of such a marriage could be a king/queen.
Succession and clearly described rules are apparently more important than letting a teenager alone to be who she is. Does anyone really believe that the people of the Netherlands are relying on her to bring a dude home to mom and dad? Amalia has not even said anything about her personal life and she has to read about her government giving her permission to be gay.
This type of intrusive public declaration can’t be avoided though when one family is held up to embody a nation. If we assume that royal blood is precious and must be preserved, then a gay queen would be guilty of mismanaging national resources. I’ll give the last word to Dick Annegarn, the Dutch folkie who sang about a world “sans institutions.” Something tells me Amalia might prefer somewhere like that.