This is absolutely outrageous! Why would a person and their family receive all that money from the pockets of every single hard working employee on this country, simply because they hold a decarative position? Be it a very important, but completely symbolic role!?

I find it ridiculous.... just as a sign of good will to her country she should have taken a cut - even if it was a small one.

The rest of her people have to make cuts, but not her... of course.

the €830,000 annual allowance she receives from the state for carrying out her duties - What duties?!

I think Queen Beatrix's income is a very modest sum, as far as Heads of States are concerned. Let her keep it. She does a good job representing the Netherlands.

2-3 live appearances a year and she get's that much pay?? My husband works hard and builds Holland and he get's paid in a year what she get's in a day

That's a huge amount for uitkering...
The royal family is the first recipient for social benefits. Being paid with public money without doing a serious job...

The queen's salary and expenses should be cut before cutting any costs on health and education.

With that money many research/development projects and start-up companies can be funded.

Why are we paying her to begin with? She is the wealthiest monarch on the planet and owns the largest share of Shell Oil.

How about outright abolition of the monarchy. Let's start there. WHY is one family paid such an outrageous amount of money? What have the done to earn it? Were they voted into office by the population? This is an anachronism of the worst kind.

Ze laat steeds vaker haar ware kleur zien.scheelt ons weer werk.doei bea

How many staff does she employ for €5m per year? Why is she employing staff at 4 other properties she isn't living in (she can only live in one house at a time) - can't they move around with her?

Until such time it's physically proven that she, and her 'heir', generate €39m of business for the Netherlands that wouldn't have happened without her efforts, she should be put on a basic salary with a performance-related bonus (of couse, that would leave WA broke...)

I would think that the monarchy would want to show solidarity with the people and take a pay cut. Very sad that they still see fit not to take a pay cut or pay taxes like everyone else. Why Dutch "subjects" subject themselves to this lack of egalitarianism I have no idea...

First of all there should not be a royal family at all. But if is a "must", at least they should have the decency "as representatives of Dutch tradition" to follow some Dutch values unknown to them, such as egalitarianism: starting with some austerity measures.

Yes this is a clear show for a lack of disrespect and ode to traditional dutch values.

Certainly the Netherlands is in no where near a crisis as the spain but still larger numbers such as 830k and 39 million touch a nerve to the everday person who is having trouble enjoying fresh orange juice and icecream.

Naturally like everyone else i like wearing orange and shouting things like long live the queen but big fancy words that are usually thrown around in abundance in political campaign such as egalitarianism and austerity come to mind.

It is a bit strange. In this age of guiltless shameless bankers who we can't seem to convict of crimes its shocking to see something as old as a listless monarchy drawing so much money out of the public welfare.

It depends how much monarchy you want; the people love their royals, but what are royals without palaces, gardens, vehicles, and the staff to maintain those things?
In return for their roles as symbols of a country's glory, royals are loved by some, despised by others, and targeted by terrorists. The assassination of a national symbol like a top royal would make the whole exercise counter-productive. So if you have royals, you have to have the security to go with them.
And it all costs geld. The queen's salary is peanuts.

I hope she knows where all her gold is buried. Time to go long on Pitchforks and bath salts.

Hi,
Queen Beatrix has no plans to hand back some of her salary. How Dare You! Mantion money or allegations of secret bugging, a smear campaign, an illegitimate child …… “I am Queen”.

Your tax dollars at work....lol

This monarchy is little more than an official mascot. I see no need to lavish so much of our tax money on them just to allow them to maintain a privileged lifestyle. Besides, they have private investments which are the direct result and benefit of their royal standing. That should be enough.

Beatrix and WA should both take a salary and a palace cut. No need for 5 residences between them. Come to think of it why not have a monarchy cut with WA serving only a ceremomial role at say 500,000 a year when Beatrix goes. He and his brood could live in 1 palace rent-free in return for opening offices, welcoming the Dalai Lama etc. Bah-humbug to the lot of them.

In Britain there is little appetite for change. The monarchy is pretty solidly popular and costs (I think) rather less per person because of the larger population. When I last looked at it, the President of Italy cost far more than our Queen. Egalitarianism is a terribly boring preoccupation and, at least, our respective Queens keep some perfectly appalling politicians from the job. Long may they reign!

It's not as if she works hard to raise the international profile of the Netherlands - people in other countries have probably never heard of her. As such, she doesn't even boost the economy by drawing in the tourists. At least the British royal family get out there on a fairly regular basis and raise the profile of the UK.

I think most of the comments here miss the point completely. We are talking EUR 39 million here - just over EUR 2 per head of the population. Put this into the right perspective for goodness sake - if you talk about waste of money, Brussels costs everyone a whole lot more and you don't even get a day off for a birthday party . . . .

A disgrace!! especially in these austerity times. Bea may do a good job and have respect of her people but she should give up some of her salary - give it to a local charity.

Just dont follow king juan by hunting elephants...

I still like monarchy better than the dorks we elect.

It could be worse. The British Royal family has been given a rise! Abolish all Royals and let's have democratically elected representatives.

She should take a cut....but hey who am I to judge?

Disappointed: yes. Surprised: no.

What a shining example...

I hope that IF a memorandum ever comes in this country to decide on the future of the monarchy, they voters will be reminded of this decision.

I'm an American expat, and our president receives a salary of $400k (around €325k) a year—less than half what the Queen gets, and not to be arrogant, but I think he's responsible for a bit more.

leave her alone. She is about the only honest institution in the Netherlands. The Parliament is a joke, full of self serving idiots, the local government is incompetent and in capable of setting the correct priorities. She does a good job.

let's first get all the info correct -- does she pay the heating bills for all those old historical and very drafty places, etc etc; how many appearances and functions are there yearly -- without a complete knowledge of her expenses, this is hard to judge or compare. And maybe it is cheaper to have a queen for live then to have a president/prime minister who changes every couple of years and who has those places redone every couple of years

I would like the royal family to adopt me. I'm 62, what are my chances?

Is this strictly a family business?

I just wonder why the Dutch queen 'needs' more than 3 times as much money than the king of Spain, even when she has a much smaller country with much less inhabitants.

Does Beatrix work 3 times as hard as king Juan Carlos?

And why do the queen and crown prince need 5 residences?

A total bill of almost 40,000,000 euros. That's a high price to pay for a royal family, especially in times like these.

I really don't understand why the Dutch royals should take a pay cut at all. After all, the Netherlands is not in an economic crisis unlike Spain and Queen Beatrix is not the wealthiest monarch in the world but the king of Thailand is. This news article is pointless.

It nice that you give us this chance to comment . I think it would be nice that the Royal Families would show solidarity with the people and take a pay cut and they would gain more then they loose from the people, but then, we don’t have a say in what happens to our lives. You say “we are cutting” and we have to find ways to live with it. They should live on what we have to for just one month to see what hardships were really like.

What a bunch of whinging socialist anti-monarchists; thank goodness you're not the ones that take such major decisions. Of course she should get this amount. It is not significant and she is the embodiment of the crown, state and magnitude of The Netherlands. Long live the Queen and all she does for us

Let's be honest: if we were not to pay a queen, we would have to pay a president. Do you really think that that would be cheaper? I don't think so. And she does more for Netherlands than a president would do. She is there for life and for Dutch people. A president would be there due to a party and he/she would have to please the people who helped him reaching that position.
Netherlands is definitely not in the same shoes as Spain. Saddly, Spain is almost bankrupt, with really big problems and has the highest unemployment in Europe. In comparison, Netherlands is still a rich country, with one of the lowest unemployment.

At least she does not cost as much as the French head of state, the president. Abolition of the monarchy may cost a lot more!! By the way, she has never asked to be queen, it was put upon her at birth.

Let's be honest, a cut on a salary of 800k is only a drop in the ocean and there are many bigwigs who earn a lot more. But I agree with Quest that it would be a symbol of solidarity to her country. Everyone has to tighten their belts, there is every reason why she should be doing the same - to show an example for one.

And She has a good revenue on her investments (Royal Shell). Some people in the Netherlands have to live on the streets! Why won`t we give her the so named : "Balkenende Norm" ?

Queen Beatrix is a member of the Bilderberger "Club", actually she belongs to the inner circle after her Nazi husband died. Together with war criminal Kissinger and others she is deciding who is worthy of living and dying on this planet. She is a criminal and everything should be taken away from her. She doesn't deserve a single cent of Dutch taxpayer money.

She has already made her contribution by deciding not to make any contribution ! Markets and economy is first of all ''psychology''. And a decision of cutting the royal family's salaries would create suspicions and rumors that that sth is going wrong with the dutch economy. Maybe sth very wrong...the news would circulate around the globe...and who knows what really can happen to the dutch economy on these strange times. So every coin has two sides...

I'm from the USA and we certainly have our crony welfare to the wealthy. But, I cannot believe the citizens of Holland continue to give welfare to this rich freeloading family. Rally around the British Queen if you must and save a lot of money...

My favourite post goes to CW "What a bunch of whinging socialist anti-monarchists; thank goodness you're not the ones that take such major decisions. Of course she should get this amount. It is not significant and she is the embodiment of the crown, state and magnitude of The Netherlands. Long live the Queen and all she does for us"

I can only think this is tongue-in-cheek saying how absolutely absurd to not have the people make major decisions. Of course, we are all too stupid to do that and need a monarchy to emobody us and the magnitude of The Netherlands!

I can't take credit for this Quest...apparently there's a new CW putting words into my mouth (or fingertips, rather)...

Nice to be popular enough to provoke people to post fake comments in my name, but I would advise Dutch News to check the email address first before publishing?

To the real CW, I've kind of wondered what cool-aid you were drinking lately;-) It was a rather entertaining post, though I am not sure it was meant that way.

Wait, the budget cuts to RNW were 36 megaeuros. Now, I think that still leaves 3 megaeuros for the queen for a fairly lavish lifestyle, and give the rest to the nice people providing awesome radio services.

What about Queen Beatrix PRIVATE WEALTH?
The monarchy in Holland is super-rich - money from people working in slavery and many wars over hundreds of years.
GIVE the MONEY BACK to the PEOPLE NOW please.