Prince Harry is not the only royal who has ever declined money from his or her respective Royal Family. However, it seems to be a growing theme these days! Now, Catharina-Amalia the Princess of Orange, who is the heir to the Dutch throne is asking the government to not send her cash!
All in all, the soon to be 18 year old would be forgoing almost 2 million dollars per year that she is entitled to receive as an allowance. Her reason behind doing this is pretty logical, and not as controversial as Harry’s.
The Princess sent a handwritten letter to the Prime Minister. In which she asks him to have the government not send her the money. The letter was obtained and published by the NOS news channel. The Princess told the Prime Minister that she was ashamed to get the money writing,
“I find that uncomfortable as long as I do not do anything for it in return, and while other students have a much tougher time of it, particularly in this period of coronavirus.”
The princess would be entitled to receive the money upon turning 18. However, after recently graduating high school the Princess plans to take a “gap year” before entering college.
She had mentioned before that her plans were to travel the world in this year off. In her words getting a chance to do things that she will not be able to do in her later life which will be mostly dedicated to royal duties. She is not just thinking about not taking the money, she also plans to pay the government back.
The princess is not only not taking the money while she is not an active royal. She also mentioned that she plans to pay the government back the $400,000 dollar allowance that she did receive when she was a student.
What she did not say was exactly how she planned to pay the government back. It’s not like she is forgoing these allowance payments for life. She is just delaying them until she becomes an active royal that has expenses that need to be paid by the state.
The British royal family are not the only royals that have a very secure place in their country. The Dutch monarchy can trace their linage back centuries as well. The current line now led by King Willem-Alexander has been in place since 1815.
The King gets around 46 million dollars to cover family expenses. However, he is also allowed to have private business ventures. He owns a large stake in Shell oil. That’s why he wouldn’t have any trouble bailing his daughter out of student debt!
