Members of the Dutch royal family can now marry a same-sex partner without forfeiting the throne, the prime minister of the Netherlands has announced.
Speaking in parliament, Mark Rutte responded to hypothetical questions about King Willem-Alexander’s current heir to the throne, 17-year-old Princess Amalia, and said if she was to choose a same-sex partner, she would not have to give up the throne to do so.
In a letter to parliament Rutte said: “The government believes that the heir can also marry a person of the same sex.”
“Therefore the cabinet does not see that an heir to the throne or the king should abdicate if he or she would like to marry a partner of the same sex.”
His intervention came in response to a recent book, Amalia, Duty Calls, which argued that old laws would appear to exclude the possibility of a same-sex couple on the throne, despite same-sex marriage being legal in the Netherlands since 2001. Little is known about Amalia’s personal life.
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Royal weddings require the consent of the Dutch parliament, according to the official website of the Royal House of the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Amalia waived her right to a €1.6 million annual allowance in June, on the grounds that it would make her “uncomfortable.”
Seems like a pretty progressive country.
