The Netherlands’ crown princess (or heiress to the Dutch throne) is Princess Catharina-Amalia, who generally goes by Amalia. In 2021, Amalia announced that she was turning down her royal “allowance” from the country when she turned 18 years old. She wanted to be able to travel and study without feeling like she was already on the clock as a working royal. She had a gap year and then enrolled in the University of Amsterdam in 2022. She only lasted a couple of months in Amsterdam before she had to withdraw because there was such a huge security threat against her. She was reportedly devastated, as were her parents. Since then, we didn’t hear much about where she was and what she was doing. That is, until the Spanish king and queen visited the Netherlands last month. Suddenly, Amalia popped up. King Willem-Alexander even said in a speech that Amalia had been living in Madrid for much of the past two years? Now Amalia is confirming that:

Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands is “grateful” to have found refuge in Spain after security threats prevented her from continuing to live in student housing in Amsterdam. It was recently revealed that the future queen, 20, lived in Madrid due to threats made in the fall of 2022 while she was starting as a student at the University of Amsterdam. According to the BBC, organized crime communications indicated she may become a target of kidnapping or an attack, initially prompting her to move home and only leave for class.

Princess Amalia stepped out for King’s Day celebrations, marking King Willem-Alexander’s birthday, in the Dutch city of Emmen with her parents and two younger sisters on April 27, speaking for the first time about secretly living abroad due to the scary situation.

“Of course, it was strange circumstances that made me go there,” she told Dutch media outlets, according to Bild. “I’m still very grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to walk around there in freedom. I managed to find a little more freedom there than was possible here. The Netherlands is my home, so it’s nice to be here again,” she said, adding that spending time in Spain “made life here somewhat possible again.”

King Willem-Alexander said it was “terrible” that his eldest daughter and heir wasn’t able to “spread her wings,” adding, “Luckily, it worked out in Madrid.”

The revelation of Princess Amalia’s time abroad came earlier this month as the Dutch royal family hosted King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain for a state visit. During his speech at the state banquet, King Willem-Alexander, 57, thanked those involved for making his daughter’s stay possible.

“Last year, circumstances required her to live in Madrid. From there, she was able to continue her studies at the University of Amsterdam. This was made possible by the kind efforts of many of your compatriots and yourselves,” the Dutch monarch said in his speech, delivered in English. “A touching demonstration of friendship at a difficult time. I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks to you and to everyone else who helped arrange this.”

[From People]

I’m not going to pretend to understand how college transfers work across EU borders, but I’m happy that Amalia got to live abroad safely and have some kind of semblance of a normal college life for a year or two. Is she back in The Netherlands full time or is she still living in Madrid? Are there still threats against her in her home country? I wonder what kind of arrangements were made and how – is it government to government? Did King Felipe have to give his blessing for a Dutch princess to come and stay in Spain? Felipe seems to have a soft spot for the young royals of Europe, he might even become something like the elder statesman-king to like two generations of European royals.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.