The Hague (AFP) – King Willem-Alexander and his wife Queen Maxima will meet Dutch compatriots worried by Brexit during a state visit to Britain this month, palace officials said.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will host the Dutch monarch in an October 22-23 visit that “reaffirms the excellent ties between the… North Sea neighbours,” the Royal House of the Netherlands said in a statement late Monday.
“The visit will focus on common social challenges, peace and security, including military cooperation, and the economy and innovation,” the statement added.
But in a sign of growing anxiety about Britain’s departure from the EU in March 2019, the king and queen will also “meet Dutch nationals who are concerned about the consequences of Brexit”.
The future of three million EU nationals living in Britain and a million Britons on the continent remains uncertain as Brexit negotiations on a divorce deal go down to the wire.
The announcement came as British media including the Guardian and Telegraph reported that Willem-Alexander had expressed regret over Brexit.
The Guardian said he told British journalists at Noordeinde Palace — although he could not be quoted because of royal protocol — that he expected to see an impact on trade between Britain and the Netherlands.
In London, the Dutch monarch will address the houses of parliament and visit Westminster Abbey where England’s Dutch-born king William III is buried, while Queen Elizabeth will host a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, Dutch officials said.
Willem-Alexander and Argentinian-born Maxima will meet heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The king and queen will also visit the south London district of Brixton, historically the centre of Britain’s Afro-Caribbean community, to “highlight common social challenges such as integration, safety and diverse groups living together in a single neighbourhood.”
Relations between the Netherlands and Britain have traditionally been close, with the trading, seafaring nations for years allying in the EU against the more federalist France and Germany.
In 2013, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte originally agreed to host then-premier David Cameron’s speech announcing his plans for a referendum on Britain’s EU membership, although it was later postponed.
But since Britain voted to leave in 2016 the Netherlands has made a big pitch for international firms post-Brexit, as well as winning the right to host the currently London-based European Medicines Agency.
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