China Daily – Fu Jing
“The Dutch people have applauded the announcement that Princess Catharina-Amalia, the 13-year-old heir to King Willem-Alexander’s throne, is to learn Chinese when the new semester starts in The Hague. Some have dubbed it the royal family’s “smartest investment”, pointing out the enhanced bilateral relations between China and the Netherlands. Such a move has already been made by the Belgian monarchy. Princess Elisabeth, the Duchess of Brabant, was born in 2001, the first child of King Philippe. She studies Mandarin in a Dutch-speaking school in Brussels. The Duchess of Brabant title is reserved for the heir apparent, and she is likely to become a queen who can speak Chinese as long as she can endure the difficulties of learning a language harder than her mother tongue.”(more)