Even an heir to the throne must be liked by his people

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, heir to the Dutch throne, last week won a lawsuit against the US news agency AP (Associated Press). In future AP is to refrain from disseminating photos of his family on holiday. For historian Daniela Hooghiemstra writing in the daily NRC Handelsblad this is a Pyrrhic victory: "Naturally the Crown Prince has the right to a private life like anyone else. … But to demand that the right to freely acquire information be revoked in those places he visits with his family is testimony to a worrying lack of understanding of the binding and serving role he will soon assume as king in a modern democratic society. … The Crown Prince has a constitutional function which is subject to control. What's more, he is dependent on (photo) journalists. Even an heir to a throne must convince his people, and the Oranges [the royal dynasty] have been doing this for time immemorial with the aid of pictures."

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