{"id":2151,"date":"2026-04-14T07:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/2151\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:05:20","slug":"shapiro-welcomes-king-and-queen-of-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/2151\/","title":{"rendered":"Shapiro welcomes king and queen of the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 The City of Brotherly Love welcomed royalty on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen M\u00e1xima started their visit to the United States in Philadelphia. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and first lady Lori Shapiro were there to welcome the royals outside Independence Hall, the site where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"#sailthru-signup-widget\" data-ylk=\"slk:Close;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Close&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Watch for us in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Subscribe Now<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe\u2019re very proud to show off this incredible house of history where our nation was created 250 years ago,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cYou know, the Netherlands and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania share an incredibly deep, historical and cultural ties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">William Penn, the state\u2019s founder, was born to a Dutch mother, and many places in the state \u2014 such as the Schuylkill River \u2014 have names of Dutch origin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Netherlands was also the second country to recognize the United States, but as the king noted, \u201cthe very first official salute, not recognition but salute to the newborn nation, came from Fort Oranje in Sint Eustatius, a small Caribbean island that is part of the Netherlands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt was a tribute to a ship carrying a precious gift: a copy of your Declaration of Independence, adopted four months earlier here in Philadelphia,\u201d Willem-Alexander said.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b28dd42b73044fcb5b1cc3fbc08e0795.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4bafab804f4da16195c58527cbf953fc.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4609a4d3fcf76bf4a2dc652509127a71.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1e818591950d78d57d4385b8af7fddf0.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3ef914ad2b0a4d4aa711c56e5c2aa6a3.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Governor Shapiro Welcomes the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Philadelphia, Highlight Economic Ties between Pennsylvania and the Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"641\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8b50ab53625a0fc9e77fa8b777b82805.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Despite the shared history, the royals\u2019 visit also focused on the future. More than 260 Dutch companies provide over 26,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. The Shapiros joined the royals for a roundtable with the CEOs of Dutch businesses to encourage more investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cOur transatlantic bond is the best guarantee of a good future,\u201d Willem-Alexander said. \u201cFor both Europeans and Americans, in a predictable world, it makes sense to build our relations with strong, loyal and reliable partners. Partners with whom we have worked with for many years, and who have proved their good intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The king\u2019s message may very well have been a rehearsal for his visit with President Donald Trump, who invited the royals to spend Monday night at the White House. They will be joined by Prime Minister Rob Jetten for dinner with the president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dutch lawmakers have expressed unease over the trip. The Netherlands plays a key role in NATO, which the president has suggested the U.S. may leave after members of the alliance ignored his calls to help as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Trump\u2019s meeting with the royals and Jetten will not be public. After leaving D.C., the royals are scheduled to spend several days in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc27.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 The City of Brotherly Love welcomed royalty on Monday. Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1925,2014,6,1913,1917,1486,2070],"class_list":{"0":"post-2151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-netherlands","8":"tag-josh-shapiro","9":"tag-lori-shapiro","10":"tag-netherlands","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-queen-maxima"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}