Prince Willem-Alexander, his wife Máxima and three daughters have been given the dubious honour of having orange fungi named after them, RTL news reported on Thursday.

Researchers from the CBS-KNAW institute have named a newly discovered fungus from the penicillin family Penicillium vanoranje, an international symposium in Amsterdam was told on Thursday.

Four other moulds from the same family have been named maximae, amaliae, alexiae and arianeae after princess Máxima and her daughters Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.

Orange is an unusual colour for micro-organisms, RTL said.

In 2005, a protein used to predict heart failure was named after queen Beatrix after it was discovered by researchers in Maastricht.