King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima hosted a dinner for government members at Huis ten Bosch Palace.
On the evening of Tuesday, 29 March, Their Majesties offered dinner to the members of the new Rutte government, who were installed on 10 January.
The dinner marked the conclusion of the rounds of welcome audiences that King Willem-Alexander held with all 20 ministers plus the nine secretaries of state over the course of the past two months.
The King and Queen welcomed the members of the cabinet and their partners in the Orange Hall of the Palace for a meal, during which His Majesty gave a speech, illustrating the stance of the country on the challenges it is facing.
Speaking about the last month, the King highlighted the role the Netherlands played in history for other peace conferences, most notably in 1899 for the First Hague Peace Conference, where Queen Wilhelmina acted as a host for Tsar Nicholas II’s Russia and other 26 countries.
On the centenary of the conference, in 1999, the then-Prince of Orange travelled to St Petersburg to take part in “The Future of War,” a meeting designed to celebrate the values of Europe for peace, stability and prosperity.
And then King Willem-Alexander spoke about the meeting of the Nuclear Security Summit that same room hosted in 2014, just a few months after Russia had been expelled from the G8 for its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
The Netherlands has welcomed many refugees from Ukraine, and the King and Queen have also agreed to open one of their palaces for those fleeing the war – a palace that will be able to host up to 30 people.
His Majesty concluded his speech by highlighting the service that each individual owes to the Dutch people and the important role partners play in supporting public servants.
The dinner was held just a few hours after King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima made their way back to the Netherlands from London, where they attended the Service of Thanksgiving for the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.
