World Cup 2026: Dutch Royal Family Watches Two Big Results in One Day
June 22, 2026 · Global
In a day full of historic moments at the World Cup, members of the Dutch royal family witnessed the Dutch national team's victory over Sweden as well as Curacao gaining their first point against Ecuador, celebrating the bond between the two countries.
Two countries, four points, one hell of a World Cup day. Despite a distance of around 5,000 miles separating the Netherlands and their former colony, Curacao, members of the Dutch royal family managed to watch the two teams play on Saturday. King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Ariane of the Netherlands were in Houston to watch the match which kicked off at noon, where the Dutch team managed an impressive 5-1 win over Sweden. After that, they traveled about 800 miles north to Kansas City to see Curacao pick up their first points of the World Cup against Ecuador. Almost all members of the Curacao squad were born in the Netherlands, and the royal family ended the day by celebrating the victory with the players in the dressing room. "This is a very special World Cup because we have the Netherlands and Curacao," Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV. "So, we have two teams to support. It's a great opportunity to support both the Blue and Orange teams. Overall, it's going to be a special World Cup for me with the two teams, and I certainly hope they can go far." Queen Maxima is from Argentina and might be able to catch the championship team's game against Austria if she stops by Arlington, Texas on Monday. Curacao is smaller than the Isle of Man with a population of 158,000 and remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In the 17th century, the Dutch conquered much of the territory that is now part of Indonesia, South Africa, Curacao and West Papua. Thousands of people were trafficked from Africa to Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and South America - accounting for about 5% of the entire transatlantic slave trade - before the practice was outlawed in 1863. King Willem-Alexander officially apologized for his country's role in the slave trade in 2023, saying he felt "personally and deeply" affected.