Dutch King Willem-Alexander has revealed that he once worked for the Kenyan government as a pilot for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), assisting in the fight against poachers.
Speaking at a special state banquet hosted in his honour alongside Queen Máxima, the King detailed his connection to Africa and Kenya in particular.
“My love for Africa was instilled in me at a young age by my father, who spent ten years of his childhood in what was then Tanganyika (now Tanzania). I personally became familiar with this part of Africa, and Kenya in particular, in the 1980s and 1990s.First as a pilot for AMREF Flying Doctors and later as a pilot for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), where my work included protecting elephants from poachers in Meru National Park,” the King stated.
The Dutch King talks of how he worked as a pilot in Kenya. Photo: Courtesy.
The King moreover revealed his pilot’s licence number adding that in an ironic twist he obtained a Kenyan license rather than a Dutch one.
“If I think back, the only pilot’s licence I ever had was not a Dutch licence but a Kenyan one. The number was Y2294-PL, issued to me by Gladys, who had an office on the first floor, first office on the left, in 1989,” he recounted.
The King and the Queen arrived in the country for an official three-day state visit, which commenced on Tuesday, March 18.
During the widely discussed visit, he was expected to oversee the signing of key bilateral agreements between the two countries and take part in a tree-planting initiative.
Further, King Willem was also set to meet Kenyan youth to discuss matters on governance and accountability of the government.
In his first official address at the onset of his visit, the King stressed to President Ruto the need to respect the rights of Kenyans and maintain good governance.
