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King Willem-Alexander and Queen M\u00e1xima arrived in Paramaribo on Sunday evening for the Netherlands\u2019 first state visit to Suriname in 47 years, NOS<\/a> reports. The royal couple landed around 7:30 p.m. local time and will remain in Suriname for three days. <\/p>\n Not since 1978 \u2014 when Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard traveled to the young republic three years after independence \u2014 has a reigning Dutch monarch set foot in the country. That 1978 visit followed Suriname\u2019s first president Johan Ferrier\u2019s trip to the Netherlands the previous year, during which he extended a formal invitation to Juliana and Bernhard.<\/p>\n Willem-Alexander and M\u00e1xima will meet with descendants of enslaved people and Indigenous communities, and on the final day will visit a former plantation area along the Commewijnerivier. The visit also coincides with major economic expectations. Large offshore oil and gas discoveries near Suriname\u2019s coast could bring billions in revenue. <\/p>\n This week\u2019s return, however, comes at a sensitive moment. President Jennifer Simons, in office only since July 16, is a member of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the movement founded by Bouterse, whose 1980 military coup, the 1982 December Murders, and later presidency made royal visits impossible for decades. Bouterse was convicted by Dutch courts for cocaine trafficking and in Suriname for the killings, and died <\/a>in December 2024.<\/p>\n Signs that a state visit might be possible surfaced earlier. In 2021, then-president Chan Santokhi hinted he would invite Willem-Alexander. That same year, the Tweede Kamer adopted a motion from Denk lawmaker Tunahan Kuzu urging a state visit linked to Suriname\u2019s 46th independence anniversary. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he saw \u201cno obstacles\u201d apart from COVID-19 but warned the preparation could take \u201cyears.\u201d<\/p>\n At the annual Dutch press meeting on June 30, Willem-Alexander said a visit required an invitation: \u201cAnd that is not the case.\u201d Queen M\u00e1xima added: \u201cWe have to wait and see.\u201d The timing again drew scrutiny. The royal couple arrived six days after Suriname celebrated its 50th independence anniversary on November 25. <\/p>\n A major turning point in the relationship reportedly came on July 1, 2023, when Willem-Alexander publicly apologized <\/a>during the National Slave History Remembrance in Amsterdam. He asked forgiveness because his predecessors had never intervened against slavery. <\/p>\n A full, independent study into the House of Orange\u2019s role in colonial history \u2014 commissioned by the king \u2014 is still pending.<\/p>\n