The House of Orange-Nassau is throwing a party. Buckingham Palace is watching, and not just for the football. This is a moment of soft power. A royal coup, if you will.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were pitchside in Berlin. Beaming. Hugging players. The Dutch men’s and women’s teams had both won the World Cup. A clean sweep. The first time any nation has achieved the double in the same year.
The image is everything. The King in an orange scarf. The Queen in a tailored dress. Both looking like they belong. Contrast that with the British monarchy. Still licking wounds from the Harry and Meghan saga. Still trying to find its footing after the Queen’s death.
Westminster knows this matters. Soft power is about visibility. It is about being seen on the world stage. The Dutch have stolen a march. They have a young, popular monarchy. We have an ageing King and a Prince of Wales who is still finding his voice.
The timing is brutal. The British men’s team crashed out in the quarter-finals. The women’s team didn’t even qualify. The FA is in damage control mode. But the real damage is to the brand. Britain as a football nation. Britain as a monarchy.
Sources in the Palace tell me they are ‘monitoring the situation’. That is code for panic. They know they cannot compete with a World Cup win. But they also know they need a win. Any win.
There is talk of a ‘Royal Charity Football Match’. Pitched as a way to ‘unite the nation’. My source rolled their eyes. ‘It’s a desperation move,’ they said. ‘They think a photo of William kicking a ball will fix everything.’
The Dutch are not stupid. They know they have a moment. They are milking it. The King has already invited the teams to a palace reception. There will be photos. There will be headlines. There will be a boost in approval ratings.
Back at Westminster, the mood is glum. The government was banking on a ‘feelgood factor’ from the tournament. Instead, they get a reminder of national decline. The economy is flat. The NHS is on its knees. And now this.
One Labour MP whispered to me: ‘We are becoming a nation of spectators. Watching others win. Watching others celebrate.’ It is a dangerous narrative. The government needs to change it. Fast.
But how? You cannot manufacture a World Cup win. You cannot legislate for national pride. The monarchy is one of the few unifying institutions left. And it is failing.
This is a story about image. About perception. About the gap between how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. The Dutch have shown us what a confident nation looks like. We are left looking at our shoes.
The next few weeks will be telling. Will the Palace try to stage a counter-narrative? Will the government lean into ‘British values’? Or will they just hope it goes away?
One thing is certain: the orange flags flying over Amsterdam are a reminder of what we have lost. A sense of purpose. A sense of joy. A sense that we can still win.
For now, the Dutch are kings of the world. And we are just watching.
