Dutch Queen 'delays' visit to Oman, in midst of demonstrations against its Sultan

[RSone]

Dutch queen puts off trip to Oman



The Dutch queen has postponed a planned visit to Oman. Queen Beatrix was due to travel to Oman with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima on Monday for a three-day visit.
The decision to put off the trip was taken in consultation with the Omani authorities, according to the Dutch Government Information Service. “Current developments demand a lot of attention and it is therefore better that the visit be made later,” the service said.

Continued @: http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-queen-puts-trip-oman

I dunno wether this is meant to send a message or not. Seems to me that royal visits of this 'magnitude'( i.e. her majesty and the crown prince and his wife) are not cancelled without very good reason. IDK what the security situation in Muscat is now, is it getting out of hand?

[happyslapper]

Perfectly understandable. Her Majesty's safety is paramount, and the Dutch royal family certainly wouldn't want to get mixed up with the current ****-storm.

[tercio67]

Was a bit of a ruckus in Sohar, seems calm for now.

[RSone]

Perfectly understandable. Her Majesty's safety is paramount, and the Dutch royal family certainly wouldn't want to get mixed up with the current ****-storm.

I'd imagine that she travels with a significant security detail while abroad since the Queen's Day attack. Domestic details were beefed up, and from what was out in public, that wasn't too shabby to begin with.

[happyslapper]

Aye, but there's only so much that can be done when a mob of thousands is bearing down on you - best not to invite it. We used to think our own royal security was pretty tight.

[RSone]

Aye, but there's only so much that can be done when a mob of thousands is bearing down on you - best not to invite it. We used to think our own royal security was pretty tight.

Well, prior to the nutter trying to drive his Suzuki Swift into the bus the Royal Family was riding on, it was considered sort of unthinkable that somebody would try anything like that.
This kinda shows why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2QeNsXkxs
The Remembrance Day after the incident.

[happyslapper]

I'm not questioning the competence of the protection officers, or the public affection. Unfortunatley all it takes is a handful of nutters, or a group of people high on 'the moment', and suddenly you have a problem.
There are countless people who seek to attack the royals for terror or political gain, and countless others who will think nothing of using them as collatteral for some unrelated aim.

Any high-ranking public figure needs protection from that, and it's often the more intangible things that can most successfully cause problems.

Take the UK for example. Here in Windsor (the Queen's favourite home) we have fully armed soldiers at entry points to the castle, bomb sniffer dogs, specialist armed police, ANPR cameras on entry-routes to the town, police check likely mortar-launch locations, a guards division infantry battallion and a light-tank regiment, among other things....

yet all it took was for someone not to have the caution to say ''let's not drive through that protest'', and suddenly we have the biggest royal security breach for 30 years.

[tercio67]

Queen to visit sultan of Oman for private dinner

Friday 04 March 2011


The royal family will pay a short visit to Oman after all next week, foreign affairs minister Uri Rosenthal told MPs on Friday, Nos television reports.

Queen Beatrix, crown prince Willem-Alexander and princess Maxima will attend a private dinner with the sultan, the minister said.
The formal state visit and trade promotion tour was postponed earlier this week because of political unrest in the Gulf state.
After the dinner, the royal party will travel on to Qatar for a three day visit.


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http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2011/03/queen_to_visit_sultan_of_oman.php