Cost of maintaining Dutch royal yacht double official budget: RTL

Prime minister Mark Rutte has repeatedly misinformed parliament about the cost of maintaining the royal family’s yacht, De Groene Draeck, RTL news said on Friday.

For years, the yacht’s official maintenance budget has been €50,000 a year but in reality it is more than double that, the broadcaster says.

RTL used freedom of information legislation to find out about the cost of the yacht, which was given to princess Beatrix by the nation in 1957. Even though it is a private possession, in 2008 it emerged that the bill for running the ship was paid for by the defence ministry.

In total, the boat has cost the taxpayer over €418,000 over the past four years, an average of over €100,000 a year, RTL said.

Although the prime minister admitted last year the boat needed extra maintenance, with a bill of some €223,000, documents obtained by RTL show the ‘extra costs’ are structural. In addition, the cost of maintaining the yacht has been increased to €95,000 a year from this year.

‘€100,000 for a yacht that rarely sails is an awful lot,’ D66 leader Alexander Pechtold told RTL. By not being straight about the budget, the government is only increasing the mistrust of the royal family’s spending in general, he said.