Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander, has described the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from royal duties as “brave.” He spoke about them in the TV-show Op1.
He told the host that he had been following the news about Harry and Meghan “from a distance” and added, “I feel connected to them in a way, although they are in a very different position. They are really in the family and have all kinds of formal roles. We have dealt with that differently here. I am in the Royal House and my brother was when he was alive (referring to his middle brother Prince Friso who died in 2013 after being buried under an avalanche) but outside of all that, we also decided to earn our own living. That is an entirely different solution.”
He added that because of this, the Duke and Duchess are now “stuck between two worlds” and said, “Fine, they have chosen and I think that is brave of them. It is brave because I don’t think Harry knows what he is in for now. I think it will be very overwhelming. We have seen some of that already. But now he has chosen for himself and his wife.”
The short clip also shows Prince Constantijn’s “freedom” at doing his own shopping for example and he explains that sometimes people look and talk to him if they recognise him and he sees them thinking, “what is he doing here?” but that they don’t expect to see the King’s brother wandering around the local supermarket but that it is really how his life is.
