All three of the little girls look happy, healthy, and well-loved. It's clear they're all the apples of WA's eye, and that Maxima dotes on them, too. Family gatherings must be fun with all the little royal cousins. The only sad thought, is of course, of Friso.
Laurentien's children do have a distinctive appearance.
I think that they are attractive.
I love their eye brows.
They have an impish cute but inquiring look about them. They could be pixies!
Laurentien gave them gorgeous names as well.
Many of the Dutch Royal grandchildren have that little turned up, see into the nostril, nose like Beatrix as well.
In my opinion she looks a lot like her father.
It was nice that when prince Willem-Alexander and his family were in London (for the Olympics) they took both girls to different Olympic events.
I sometimes wonder if Claus-Casimir will be spoiled (a bit) by Beatrix, as he is her only male grandchild. This is not based on her behaviour but on my experiences with families were there is only one boy or girl with the rest soly girls or boys.
My parents have only one granddaughter and four grandsons. They are all treated equally, but still the girl is something special.
Apparently Laurentien is also al very liked/loved person within the royal family.
Her niece, princess Alexia, second daughter of Willem-Alexander and Máxima received Laurentien as her fourth given name. During her baptism Alexia was also carried into the church by Laurentien.
Laurentien is also the godmother of Leah Isadora Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn.
According to the stories Friso and Mabel met each other with help of Laurentien. Mabel and Laurentien were friends. During the wedding of Friso and Mabel Laurentien was one of Mabel's witnesses (in church).
Laurentien has a long record of fighting against illiteracy in the Netherlands, which is now to be considered an underestimated problem. She is the (co-)author of a couple of books for children.
Claus-Casimir might be seen as special. That would be kind of normal, as you say.
He is very special in the family mix - the only boy!
As is your niece/daughter very special to your family.
One of my friends was the only boy and treated like a princeling.
I think that it kind of balanced out because he speaks about being lonely for male company all his life ... so it's kind of cute that his grandparents gave him something extra.
Something I always found special and interesting was the gender distribution in several generations of the Dutch Royal Family.
Wilhelmina, the first Queen, had 3 older halfbrothers who died before their father. Therefore she became queen. According to the stories Wilhelmina had several miscarriages and one surviving daughter, Juliana. Juliana in her turn gave birth to 4 daughters. Two, almost three generations of soly women.
But then came the generation with predominantly men. All 4 daughters of Juliana had sons, but only two of them also had daughters. Juliana was the proud grandmother of 11 grandsons and 3 granddaughters.
Because of marriages (and consent) only Beatrix and Margriet stayed in line to the Dutch throne. Both ladies only had sons, respectively 3 and 4.
In present time the grandchildren of Margriet are with regard to gender more mixed (6 granddaughters, 4 grandsons). As said before Beatrix has predominantly granddaughters (1 grandson, 10 granddaughters). Only one of her three sons has a son of his own. The other two, Willem-Alexander and Friso, only have girls.
Other nephews got the problem of predominantly a male offspring. For both set of grandparents they are one of many grandsons, while both set of grandparents have only one granddaughter.
The first fourteen years of my life I was the only girl among my grandparents' grandchildren. I only had male cousins and I have a brother.
I know my great gramdmother viewed me as something special but I assure you it's lonely!
IMO Amalia is mini-W-A, Alexia is mini-Maxima and Ariane is a combination of the two (cannot say which one she resembles more). It's interesting to see how tall these princesses will grow up to be.
If I remember it correct Máxima once made remarks about the characters of the children. Alexia could be described as having a temperament.
Wow - these kids need some pigment, stat! They look like ghost children, they're so pale!