How Duchess’s soft diplomacy could help cushion a hard Brexit
Visit to the Netherlands is start of royal effort to beef up relations between Britain and EU member states
THE Duchess of Cambridge will become a “potent force” in Britain’s bridge-building with EU countries as Brexit looms, a former ambassador has said, as she prepares to visit the Netherlands this week.
The country is one of Britain’s biggest trading partners, with £68 billion of goods crossing the North Sea every year, but has not received a visit from a senior member of the Royal family for three years.
The Duchess’s first solo foreign trip will take her to The Hague on Tuesday, where she will meet King Willem-Alexander at his official residence, Villa Eikenhorst.
Her day of diplomacy will continue with a visit to the capital’s Mauritshuis art gallery to promote an exhibition of Dutch paintings owned by the Queen, as well as a mental health conference and a brief stop at a community project in Rotterdam.
It is likely to be the first in a regular roster of royal visits to European countries by members of the Royal family as the Government deploys them to help “beef up” bilateral relations with individual EU member states.
The Netherlands is Britain’s third-biggest export market, after the US and Germany, accounting for seven per cent of all exported goods, or £27.7billion. The UK imports £41billion of goods from the Netherlands every year, making it the thirdbiggest importer after Germany and China.
One recently-retired British ambassador, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The need for embassies to build bilateral relations has come back into play as a result of the Brexit vote. During our EU membership partners have been cultivated in Brussels by ministers, not in capital cities. “But that is changing and we need to start beefing up our bilateral relationships with EU countries. Those links need to become stronger and the Royal family is a very potent force in that exercise. “It would not surprise me if we see more trips to Europe by members of the Royal family because there are 27 countries and we will want to let them know that we haven’t left the scene.” Royal visits are undertaken at the request of the Foreign Office, following invitations from host countries for the Queen or other members of the Royal family to pay a visit. Strengthening trade links with countries such as India, China and countries in the Middle East is one of the stated goals of royal tours. Until now, there has been little need for visits to European countries because of Britain’s membership of the European single market. Commonwealth realms and member states receive far more visits, with European trips largely restricted to war commemoration events or other specific anniversaries. That may now change, however, as Britain contemplates the process of negotiating trade deals with every EU member state. Former ambassador Oliver Miles, who served in the diplomatic service for 36 years, said: “It’s obvious that the Duchess is going to play this part in the future and this is a good way to start because relations with the Netherlands are good, partly because of the friendship between the two royal families.”