By Duke Michael of Mecklenburg.
Their Royal Highnesses Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands are due to leave Brussels where they reside together since they wed in 2001.
The princely couple intends to settle in Den Haag before September so that their three children, Countess Eloise, Count Claus-Casimir and Countess Leonore van Oranje-Nassau may begin the school year in The Netherlands. This move is facilitated by the fact that Prince Constantijn is now only part-time “Special Adviser to the Vice-President of the European Commission”, Andrus Ansip. The Estonian Ansip is responsible for the Digital Single Market. Previous to this position, Prince Constantijn was the Head of Office of former Commissioner Neelie Kroes in the same digital portfolio.
Currently the prince is a fellow of Eisenhower Fellowship in the USA, and is due to return to Europe in May to prepare his professional services and move in The Netherlands.
On her part, Princess Laurentien is the director of Missing Chapter Foundation, adviser to the Port of Rotterdam, President of the European Cultural Foundation as well as Honorary President of the Reading and Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen en Schrijven) which she started in 2004. She patronises many other social organisations.
Professionally the prince uses the sobriquet “Constantijn van Oranje”, whereas the princess utilises “Laurentien van Oranje”.
For more information:
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands: www.koninklijkhuis.nl/encyclopedie/wie-is-wie/prins-constantijn/
Missing Chapter: www.missingchapter.org/
Reading and Writing Foundation: http://readingandwriting.eu/
