King forced to apologize after wrongful arrest by palace in suspected kidnap plot | Royal

King Willem-Alexander has felt compelled to “personally apologize” following a racism row within the Dutch royal family.

It is alleged that palace officials tipped off Belgian police to intercept a car they claimed was following Princess Catharina-Amalia, 20, from Amsterdam to Antwerp. In fact, the unwitting driver of the car was celebrity DJ Serginio Piqué who claimed he was held at gunpoint by Belgian police.

Piqué, a presenter at the popular radio station NPO Blend, was driving through the centre of Antwerp with friends in a rental car on 2 August. Coincidentally, he was following the same route as Princess Catharina-Amalia. Pique claimed that he was held at gunpoint by ‘men in balaclavas’, who later turned out to be the police, which made him wonder whether there was a case of ethnic profiling.

The unwitting pursuit of Princess Catharina-Amalia’s car, once the intended target of a ‘Dutch mafia kidnapping plot’, aroused suspicion among the Dutch security service, which subsequently alerted the Belgian authorities.

According to NL Times, police escorted the group out of their vehicle with weapons drawn and had them kneel in the street, with their feet crossed and their hands on their heads.

They were then handcuffed and taken to a police van, where they were questioned for about an hour.

Piqué remained in the dark about the purpose of his arrest until he arrived at the police station, where it was revealed that the Dutch security services had asked the Belgian police to arrest the group.

In an interview with NOS, Piqué indicated that he wonders whether his arrest was due to his skin color.

He said, “You have so many thoughts going through your mind. You start to wonder if there was racial profiling going on. That’s a feeling that every person of color experiences when they’re wrongfully stopped.

“We could have just run a stop sign. They could have searched our car and we would have been done in two minutes.”

Serginio’s lawyer, Vito Shukrula, told FEMAIL that the group had received a “personal” apology from a spokesperson for the Royal House. He also shared exclusive details about King Willem-Alexander’s reaction to the “very frightening” experience.

He said: “Yesterday we received a call from the personal spokesperson of the Royal House. She told us that the King – King Willem Alexander – wants us to know that the Dutch Royal House understands how deeply frightening this experience must have been for my client and his friends.

“Furthermore, the King wanted to let us know that he expresses his condolences on behalf of the Royal House and that the Royal House recognizes that he and his friends have become victims.

“The royal family calls it an unfortunate consequence of the need to protect the royal family.

“Princess Amalia unfortunately became the target of the so-called mafia and that is why she had to go into hiding for more than a year. The Spanish Royal Family was kind enough to help her find shelter in Madrid, and they took care of her protection during that terrible time.

“For me and my client, this case was mainly about recognition of the Royal House for the injustice that had happened to them.

“The Royal Dutch Secret Service miscalculated and saw my client and his friends as a threat to the princess. It was all very unfortunate.

“My client has accepted the personal apologies of the Royal House and we will not take any further legal action, as we have achieved what we wanted: recognition for the terrible and unjust arrest of my client and his friends.”