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| The baptism of Prince Henri (1933), first son of the Count and Countess of Paris including the families of the Count and Countess of Paris and Queen Amelie of Portugal (Marlene A. Eilers Koenig Collection) |
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| The Countess of Paris with her infant twin sons, Princes Michel and Jacques, 1941 (Marlene A. Eilers Koenig Collection) |
Marlene, you probably don't know too much about this, but given that you've studied so much about royalty in general & know some royals yourself, it's worth a shot! :-)
ReplyDeleteas the olympics opened, there was a lot of talk in the media about security. obviously, to be a royal (especially a high-ranking one in a reigning country) is to be a target. it is an unavoidable part of the position, unfortunately. however, many of the european royals have stated that they feel rather safe, especially in their home country, as they tend to enjoy relatively high popularity numbers on the continent.
to travel anywhere outside their homeland is a risk.
the thing is, though, these particular olympics have had specific threats. russia has fallen to terrorist attacks much more frequently than we in the west are used to. it was speculated in one of the news reports i heard that the reason so many countries haven't sent their top officials is because of security, though with people like obama it has to do with the whole human rights thing.
the new king & queen of the netherlands is there. their heir is their daughter, only just 10 years old.
do you think this kind of general security threat would go into the decision to attend the olympic opening ceremony and other events? does it go through their minds that if they are harmed, with the netherlands in particular, they've got a young girl who will inherit the throne without either parent there and two younger sisters? or is it something they just kind of figure they can't do anything about so why worry?
Michelle, President Obama did not go to the Olympics because of security. It is rare for an American president to travel to a foreign Olympic games. He also sent a powerful message with an American delegation including several high profile athletes who happen to be gay. Willem Alexander was a member of the IOC until last year and Henri is a member of the IOC. I doubt they actually think about being in a terrorist attack.
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