In January 2012, Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard of the Netherlands arrived in Abu Dhabi on an official state visit that would take her through parts of the Gulf. Accompanying her were then Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, who is now the King of the Netherlands, and his wife, Princess Maxima, now Queen, plus the former foreign minister Uriel Rosenthal.
President Sheikh Khalifa welcomed the Dutch delegation at Mushrif Palace, before they were taken on a tour around the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the resting place of Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father.
While there, Beatrix wore a long gown and stunning blue headscarf out of respect for Islamic tradition.
The Dutch royals arrived in the UAE on Sunday, January 8. The two-day visit also took in Masdar City, Adnoc’s headquarters and Dubai, before they moved on to Oman on Tuesday, January 10, where they also visited the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat.
Beatrix had been Queen of the Netherlands since April 30, 1980, and it was a little over a year after her UAE trip that she abdicated the throne, leaving her eldest son to reign.
