Royal cooking – at least for the photographers. Later, over lunch with refugees from Ukraine, things got serious again. A day full of facets for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima.
The Dutch royal couple put on cooking aprons for a visit to a Viennese integration project.
On the second day of his state visit to Austria, King Willem-Alexander showed the photographers in the “Community Cooking” kitchen with a rolling pin while Queen Máxima worked on a dough.
Austria’s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife Doris Schmidbauer also attended the visit to the Caritas social institution. With the support of helpers, the lunchtime guests were later served: egg dish with onions, tomatoes and peppers, falafel filled with tomatoes and onion mixture, tahini sauce with various herbs.
Meeting with refugees from Ukraine
The royal couple also met refugees from Ukraine at the facility. During the conversation, which lasted more than 30 minutes, Willem-Alexander and Máxima inquired about the fate of the people. The Dutch royal family itself has accommodated more than 30 refugees from Ukraine in one of its palaces.
The program also included a visit to the National Library with a tour of the State Hall, a meeting with Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer and in the evening a concert by the Dutch Chamber Choir.
On Wednesday, the couple and a group of several dozen people travel by train to Graz, 200 kilometers from Vienna. There they will visit an automotive supplier who, among other things, is researching environmentally friendly batteries. The city of 300,000 has also launched a cycling offensive with the help of Dutch expertise. In the town hall, the royal couple is welcomed by Mayor Elke Kahr, who at least according to her party book has little time for the nobility – she is a communist.
