King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands doesn't want to keep his 13-year-old daughter, Crown Princess Amalia, from experiencing life prior to taking the throne. Queen Maxima’s husband admitted in a new interview with Dutch author Wilfried de Jong that traveling and meeting interesting people during his teenage and school years helped him accept the fact that one day he would succeed his mother, Queen Beatrix, as monarch.
"I hadn't yet accepted, internalized that I would take over from my mother. I wanted to get to know myself better. You must first get to know yourself through and through. That's what I am constantly emphasizing with Amalia,” the Dutch King said. He continued, "I keep saying: know your own limits. Go everywhere. Make mistakes, as far as possible out of the eyes of the public. I did that, a lot. Festivals, parties everything and more — find your boundaries. It is a good thing to do, without doing it in the public domain."
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Despite growing up royal, Willem-Alexander had a relatively carefree youth. Now raising three daughters — Princesses Amalia, Alexia, 11, and Ariane, ten, — the 50-year-old admitted that he wants his girls to enjoy the same freedom that he did. The King noted that he does not want to know his daughters's every move and that he has an arrangement with the young princesses's security guards. He explained, "It's about the safety of my children, not about us knowing what they're doing or whether things are good or bad. Otherwise you can never develop yourself. If they want to share things about Amalia, I would rather not know.” The Dutch royal family celebrated Willem-Alexander’s 50th birthday on Thursday. The monarchs and their daughters stepped out to attend King’s Day celebrations in Tilburg, the Netherlands on April 27. The five-some were snapped enjoying themselves as they participated in birthday festivities.