The Dutch state visit is a small, useful event by the standards of the calendar. King Willem-Alexander is six feet three inches tall. Queen Máxima is, depending on shoes, very nearly the same. The President and First Lady received them at the South Portico in light rain, on the evening of April 13, with a Tuesday-morning press availability the next day. The visit was billed, accurately, as part of the United States’ two hundred and fiftieth anniversary commemorations.
The viral element of the visit was, predictably, the photographs. The pool photographers caught the four principals in a series of standard side-by-side compositions. In several frames, the king is visibly taller than the President. In one frame, by enough that the comparison became its own news cycle. The Internet, with its usual generosity, produced annotated versions within hours, with rulers superimposed and arrows added, and these versions outperformed the official photo set on every metric that platforms now measure.
This is a small thing. It is also, in the administrative ledger, a wasted day. The Dutch Prime Minister, Rob Jetten, joined the dinner and the official photographs. He told reporters afterward that the conversation was constructive, but that neither side had convinced the other on the central trade and security questions. Constructive is the standard diplomatic verb that means we did not yell.
A serious state visit produces a paragraph in the next year’s annual review and a memo for the trade desk. The Dutch visit produced both, plus a height meme that, by the next morning, had been turned into an AI video of the royals walking around a White House that no longer exists. The video was viewed millions of times. It is, of course, not real. It is also, of course, the part of the visit most Americans will remember.
The standard summary, by Wednesday, was that the Dutch left a little disappointed but with the photographs they came for. The President got a press availability with two more European royals. The Internet got a meme. Everybody, in the loose sense, won.
Calmly documenting the decline.
The breakdown.
- Factual basis The visit is documented; PM Jetten's dinner remarks were on the record.17/25
- Self-awareness Standing next to a six-foot-three monarch invites comparison.6/20
- Staff containment The official photo set was tightly framed, but the candid pool images escaped.9/20
- Recovery attempt None needed; the photos are the photos.4/15
- Public spectacle Trended on three continents within hours.8/20
Was this dumb enough?
Members can adjust the score. Become a member.