Unable to leave home due to threats, Princess Amalia quietly celebrates 19th birthday

Amalia, the crown princess of the Netherlands, celebrates her 19th birthday today. The celebration will be a private affair, happening at home with her family, according to the government information service RVD.

While the RVD did not explicitly say so, the small celebration at home may have to do with threats against Amalia.

In October, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima announced that Amalia has been unable to leave the house due to threats. The situation has had an enormous impact on their oldest daughter, Maxima said. Especially because Amalia couldn’t live in student housing in Amsterdam as she had planned. The crown princess started studying Politics, Psychology, Law, and Economics at the University of Amsterdam in September.

“She cannot leave the house,” Máxima said to the press during the royal couple’s state visit to Sweden in October. “That has enormous consequences for her life. That means, naturally, that she does not live in Amsterdam and that she also can’t actually step outside.”

Amalia was still stuck at home a month later and made her first public appearance following the threats on November 4.