# Dutch Royal family attacked; 5 dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888 "2009-04-30T20:57:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/1 "2009-04-30T20:57:25Z")
A driver [crashed](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8026807.stm) his car into crowds while attempting to ram an open-topped bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family in a Queen’s Day parade. Five bystanders are dead, but he survived and is critical condition. Apparently he admited targeting the Queen an if he survived will be charged with murder and treason. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/2 "2009-04-30T21:06:12Z")
Damn, those poor people and witnesses! Why in the world would someone want to attack Queen Beatrix and her family? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/3 "2009-04-30T22:45:57Z")
How awful. Man, do they have little cars over in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/4 "2009-04-30T23:50:44Z")
Boy, I bet he’s really [in Dutch](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_Dutch) now. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/5 "2009-04-30T23:53:05Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Why in the world would someone want to attack Queen Beatrix and her family? Even in the world’s most laid back countries, there’s always a few nutbars ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/6 "2009-05-01T03:07:35Z")
Bad headline. Yes, 5 people are dead, but it implies they’re members of the royal family, who escaped harm. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/7 "2009-05-01T03:27:21Z")
Why would anyone be surprised that nutbars are trying to kill royalty? I wonder how long it’s been since anyone took a run (or a shot) at that particular family? How’d they get through WWII? Did the Nazis put any of them up against a wall? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/8 "2009-05-01T14:04:25Z")
It’s just been on the news here that he’s died. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/9 "2009-05-01T14:19:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > How’d they get through WWII? By [running](http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/01/19/) [away](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_of_the_Netherlands) > [@](#): > > When World War II broke out in the Netherlands in May 1940, the Dutch Royal Family fled to London, United Kingdom. > [@](#): > > Crown Princess Juliana and her two small daughters arrived in Canada in June 1940, a month after they fled the Netherlands in the wake of the German army invasion. The heir to the Dutch throne, Juliana lived in exile in Ottawa for four years and became a fixture in the capital city’s social circles. After learning of Juliana’s pregnancy, the Canadian government proclaimed the hospital’s maternity suite “extraterritorial” so that the royal baby would have full Dutch citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/10 "2009-05-01T16:29:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I wonder how long it’s been since anyone took a run (or a shot) at that particular family? Actually, I read that the last physical attack on the Dutch royal family was the assassination of [William the Silent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silent#Assassination) – more than four hundred years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/11 "2009-05-01T16:49:38Z")
Well, then, about time something got their blood flowing again. Sorry, I just cant hock up any sympathy for royal families in this day and age – they are virtually yhe definition of social parasites. Not that they deserve death for it. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/12 "2009-05-01T17:47:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Well, then, about time something got their blood flowing again. While I’ll agree that monarchies are archaic constructions, I fail to see how that justifies killing 6 innocents. Your comment is akin to me saying in 2001 that it was about time that something happened in the U.S. that had their eyes opened for their foreign policies. It is in poor taste. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/13 "2009-05-01T19:25:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Sorry, I just cant hock up any sympathy for royal families in this day and age – they are virtually yhe definition of social parasites. Yes, well, leaving aside the fact that like all constitutional monarchies the Dutch monarchy exists at the pleasure of the Dutch people, perhaps you could work up a little sympathy for the six people who were killed. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/14 "2009-05-01T19:45:44Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Bad headline. Yes, 5 people are dead, but it implies they’re members of the royal family, who escaped harm. The headline worked perfectly. It sucked us in. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/15 "2009-05-01T20:18:45Z")
_Treason_? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/16 "2009-05-01T20:34:53Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > _Treason_? Yes. Killing people is nothing compared to dissing the homeys. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/17 "2009-05-01T21:38:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Yes. Killing people is nothing compared to dissing the homeys. What’s apparently in play (or would have been had the guy lived) is a section of the Dutch criminal code that relates to attacks on the head of state. That’s pretty common worldwide (Canada has something similar - killing, injuring, or kidnapping the Queen is included in the definition of high treason). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/18 "2009-05-01T21:57:45Z")
He’s succumbed to his inuries since, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/19 "2009-05-01T22:25:22Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > By [running](http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/01/19/) [away](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_of_the_Netherlands) Queen Wilhelmina wasn’t given much choice in the matter. The British warship that was supposed to take her to the southern Netherlands was ordered back to Britian at the last moment over her objections. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888/20 "2009-05-02T02:18:33Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Sorry, I just cant hock up any sympathy for royal families in this day and age – they are virtually yhe definition of social parasites. How do you feel about attacks on the medically dependent? Just wondering. I grew up thinking human life was worth preserving. Funny little quirk I have. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-royal-family-attacked-5-dead/494888.md?page=2)