Princess Amalia promoted to sergeant after week at sea

The Dutch Ministry of Defence has promoted Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, to sergeant.

The announcement, titled 'Prinses Amalia bevorderd tot sergeant', was published on 19 October and said the promotion took place on Saturday Dutch Ministry of Defence. Sergeant is a junior non-commissioned rank, one step up from corporal. It is earned, not given.

The ceremony took place in the port of Den Helder. It was held aboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a three-masted tall ship built in 1914.

The ship flies the Norwegian flag but is chartered by the Royal Netherlands Naval Academy as a training vessel Hello Magazine. Princess Amalia had spent the past week on board. She sailed and practised maritime manoeuvres alongside first-year midshipmen, the naval term for trainee officers.

She got soaked. As part of the promotion, she received a bucket of cold water over her in a traditional "sea baptism", the navy's noisy, wet way of celebrating advancement.

What makes this stand out is how ordinary the route has been. Princess Amalia, the 22-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, completed General Military Training — known as AMO — at the Ministry of Defence in Ermelo in January 2026. That basic training, which allows her to wear military uniform when working for the ministry, brought with it the rank of corporal Town & Country.

She is now serving through the Defence College programme. The scheme lets university students combine their studies with part-time military work. Her AMO forms part of that training.

For general readers meeting her for the first time, Amalia was educated at Bloemcampschool in Wassenaar from 2007 and at Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet from 2015. She is the daughter of King Willem-Alexander and now first in line to the throne.

For fans, this means more uniformed appearances to come. No palace fanfare, no extra title. Just a new stripe, a wet uniform, and a week of deck work logged with her year group.