Princess Catharina-Amalia?

8 December 2003

AMSTERDAM – Despite the fact that Prince Willem-Alexander was not expected to announce the name of the Netherlands future queen until Tuesday morning, it was being reported on Monday that the baby girl’s name will probably be Catharina-Amalia.

A check of websites attached to the IP address of the official internet website of the Dutch Royal Family has uncovered the name Catharina-Amalia, a nu.nl news report said.

Upon retrieval of the IP address for the site www.koninklijkhuis.nl, the following address is given: 193.78.30.30. But if you request a list of sites that are using that same IP address, a list of interesting names is found.

The sites www.catharina-amalia.nl/ and www.prinsescatharina-amalia.nl/ have been registered since 7 December under the name of the Stichting Sigillis Regiis Praesidio, a foundation which was set up to protect the royal family from commercial exploitation.

The registered websites direct internet users back to a page on the royal family website announcing the birth of the second-in-line heir to the Dutch throne. Moreover, they are difficult to open or give error messages.

IP addresses are codes that refer to matching websites and the website http://centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.vbs.asp gives an oversight of all registered domain names. If the IP address 193.78.30.30 is inputted, an internet user is given a list of registered internet sites and the name Catharina-Amalia features prominently.

Princess Maxima, the wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, gave birth to the couple’s first child at 5.01pm on Sunday. The baby girl was perfectly healthy, weighed 3.31kg and will become the latest in a long line of queens in the Netherlands.

Her name has not yet been officially announced, but the government information service RVD confirmed on Monday that Willem-Alexander will register the child’s birth with municipal authorities in The Hague on Tuesday, at which time the baby’s name is expected to be revealed. The prince will be officially received at the Oude Stadhuis (Old City Hall) at 10am.

Meanwhile, the name Amalia appears several times in the House of Orange family tree. The most well known, Amalia van Solms (1602-1675), was the wife of Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647).

The most recent is Amalia van Sachsen-Weimar (1830-1872), who was the first wife of Prince Hendrik (1820-1879). Prince Hendrik is the uncle of Queen Wilhelmina. The other Amalia is Henriette Amalia van Anhalt-Dessau (1666-1726), who was the mother Johan Willem Friso (1687-1711).

Looking further into the family tree and the combination of Catharina Amalia is found. The great, great grandson of Willem of Orange, Philipp van Hesse-Philippsthal, married Catharina Amalia van Solms-Laubach, who was also family of Willem van Orange. Many members of the European nobility in centuries past were related to each other.

Subject: Dutch news