Poland welcomes Dutch royal couple

From left: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and First Lady of Poland Anna Komorowska. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were met by President Komorowski and First Lady Anna Komorowska at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

The king will hold talks with Komorowski on matters including the Ukrainian crisis, the forthcoming NATO summit, European energy policy and trade between Poland and the Netherlands.

King Willem-Alexander has referred to Poland's role in liberating Holland and Western Europe 70 years ago in 1944 (the road to Breda along which Poles fought was renamed Poolsche Weg, the Polish Way), and the king will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on Tuesday afternoon.

The royal couple will also visit the Warsaw Rising Museum, which commemorates the doomed 1944 insurgency during the Nazi occupation.

On Wednesday, the king and queen will take part in a Polish-Dutch business forum at the National Stadium in Warsaw, before visiting the western city of Poznan in the afternoon.

It is the first visit of a Dutch monarch to Poland since that of Queen Beatrice in 1997. Queen Beatrice abdicated on 30 April 2013, when she was succeeded by her son. (nh)

Source: PAP