Interesting Facts

According to a study from Washington State University Dutch babies laugh, smile and like to cuddle more than their American counterparts. (The study found that U.S. infants, were typically more active and vocal, but Dutch babies demonstrated greater expressions of happiness during routine activities and were easier to calm or soothe when upset. The researchers hypothesize that Dutch infants' relatively calm demeanors were due in part to a more regulated sleep schedule and lower intensity activities. I know which kind of baby I would prefer at 2 in the morning.) Source

King Willem-Alexander has become the first Dutch male monarch in more than a century after his mother Beatrix abdicated today. He is the first Dutch king since Willem III died in 1890.

Nick Clegg (the leader of the Liberal Democratic party and currently the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK), has a Master's Degree in European studies. (In fact he has some European connections: He is multilingual, and speaks English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish. He also spent a gap year working as a ski instructor in Austria, and my favourite European link is that when he was 16 he served a community service sentence in Germany, when on an exchange trip in Munich, he and a friend got drunk and set fire to two greenhouses full of exotic plants.)