A Dutch comedian captured the mood in the Netherlands last week when he called King Willem-Alexander and Queen M\u00e1xima\u2019s upcoming visit to Washington \u201cthe strangest sleepover ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The king and queen are headed to Washington<\/a> on Monday. They hosted President Trump at a royal palace last year during a closely watched NATO summit, giving him a red-carpet treatment that has earned them a reciprocal invitation \u2014 including a rare overnight stay in the White House. Rob Jetten<\/a>, the prime minister of the Netherlands, will join them at dinner with Mr. Trump on Monday night.<\/p>\n But amid the war in Iran, anxiety over the future of NATO, and continued wariness about the president\u2019s intentions for Greenland, the people of the Netherlands are greeting the trip with mixed reactions.<\/p>\n The comedian, Arjen Lubach, who hosts a satirical late-night show on Dutch television, on Thursday mocked the royal couple\u2019s plan to have \u201ca nice pajama party\u201d at the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cCozy. First blow up the air mattress, and then Iran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Similarly skeptical reactions have rippled across the Netherlands. Opposition lawmakers have warned that the king and queen are on the wrong side of history<\/a>. There was a public petition<\/a> to call off the trip. And on the day that President Trump threatened to wipe out \u201ca whole civilization\u201d<\/a> in Iran, Mr. Jetten faced a volley of questions in the Dutch Senate about the visit.<\/p>\n Mr. Jetten, whose narrow electoral victory last year<\/a> was hailed as a sign that pragmatic progressivism can triumph over populism, walked a careful line. He described Trump\u2019s statement as \u201ctruly very concerning,\u201d but declined to answer whether an all-out attack on civilian targets in Iran would make him call off the visit.<\/p>\n \u201cYou also have to ask yourself to what extent it makes a difference if a small country like the Netherlands says, \u2018We\u2019re not coming now in protest,\u2019\u201d he said. He added that showing up and having \u201ca serious conversation about what you do and don\u2019t agree on\u201d might be \u201cmore useful at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of his countrymen take a less optimistic view.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a delegation sent to please the bully,\u201d said Menno Schut, 51, who runs a framing shop in the center of The Hague and who spoke in an interview on Saturday.<\/p>\n Mr. Schut has been framing paintings, embroideries and wedding pictures for around two decades, and he once sold the king\u2019s assistant a single tiny screw, he said. He explained that he understood that it is \u201cnot an option\u201d to cancel the trip.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in a way, I also think it\u2019s weak,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The visit to Washington will be part of a three-day trip for the king and queen, who will also visit Philadelphia and Miami. Staying overnight at the White House is rare for world leaders, who often sleep across the street at Blair House<\/a>.<\/p>\n King Charles and Queen Camilla are also expected to visit Washington at the end of this month, in the first British state visit to the United States since Queen Elizabeth II visited George W. Bush in 2007.<\/p>\n