Dutch princess starts college under heavy security due to criminal threat

Security has been increased substantially around the 18-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, Princess Amalia, after her name was found in intercepts indicating that she was being targeted, along with the Netherlands prime minister, Mark Rutte, by the country’s criminal underworld.

An indication of how seriously the threat is being taken is that Amalia has not yet moved, as had been planned, into shared accommodation at Amsterdam University where she began studying politics, psychology, law and economics earlier this month.

Although details of the intercepted messages are not in the public arena, they raised fears that the princess, who turned 18 on December 7th, might be the immediate focus of plans for “an attack” or “a kidnap attempt”.

The police presence around the heir was described as “immense” on Tuesday when, for the first time, she accompanied King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima to the official opening of parliament — a journey through the streets of The Hague by traditional coach and horses.

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Having returned to Noordeinde Palace in the city centre, Amalia and the royal couple then appeared as scheduled on the palace balcony to acknowledge wellwishers — something the royal household was loath to cancel because it had not been possible for the two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government information service refused to comment on security arrangements for the royals. However, asked about the latest concerns, minister for justice Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius acknowledged that drugs-related organised crime was now “a fundamental problem in the Netherlands”.

She added: “Journalists, politicians and public figures are under increasing pressure because they want to keep doing their jobs despite the criminals. Those involved are ruthless. They aim to undermine all the freedoms we stand for in our open society.”

As well as safety concerns for Princess Amalia and Mr Rutte, there’s also been anger at confirmation that the man regarded as the country’s most dangerous criminal, Ridouan Taghi, has been corresponding with Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered the film-maker Theo van Gogh in 2004.

Taghi, who is on trial accused of masterminding a gang that carried out six drugs-related assassinations in 18 months, was incarcerated with Bouyeri at the top-security Nieuw Vosseveld prison in Vught, and the correspondence began when Bouyeri was transferred to Rotterdam in September 2021.

Taghi’s lawyer, Inez Weski, said in a statement that her client believed the links to Bouyeri had been made public in an attempt to “damage him”.

In relation to the princess, she said Taghi had made clear that he had “no wish to harm Princess Amalia” and that he would “never endanger a child”.

Regarding the correspondence, she said it had gone through all the usual prison checks and her client would agree to having it published in full by the public prosecutor.