The Dutch royal family earned more than half a billion euros from the country's colonial past, according to research reported by NU on Friday. The findings cover the House of Orange's financial ties to the colonial period, the outlet said.
The research has drawn mixed reactions in the Netherlands, Het Parool reported. Among those responding, a co-founder of The Black Archives handed back a royal honor in response to the investigation, according to that outlet.
Coverage of the findings also extended to the historical record. NRC highlighted the position of King Willem I at the time Britain abolished slavery, reporting that he had the option to follow suit and did not seriously entertain it. Other Dutch outlets, including AD.nl and rd.nl, carried commentary and reflection on how the country should handle the reckoning with its past, with one piece urging an end to quarreling over history.
The reporting centers on the scale of the royal house's gains rather than on any single transaction, and the outlets differ in emphasis — some on the numbers, others on the public and institutional response. NU's account puts the total at over half a billion euros.
What to watch next: whether the Dutch government or the royal house issues a formal response to the research, and whether the returned honor is followed by further gestures from institutions named in the coverage.
