From budding professional footballer to son-in-law of the sultan.
Then you think you know all the Dutch royals by heart, and suddenly Prince Dennis shows up. If you don’t know him, that’s not surprising: this prince is on the other side of the world, at the court of Malaysia.
Date Dennis
Former footballer and model Dennis Verbaas from Lisse now goes by the name Dato Dennis Muhammad Abdullah, husband of Princess Tunku Tun Aminah Maomunah. The Dutchman did modeling in Asia for some time and then continued as a marketing manager at a Singaporean football club. Through this he met the Malaysian royal. The Malaysian princess and the South Holland model married in 2017, after Dennis converted to Islam. Dennis did not become a prince through his marriage, but he did receive the noble title ‘Dato’. And that seems to be a good thing!
We regularly see snapshots of Dennis and his Aminah on social media. Aminah’s father, the sultan of the Malaysian state of Johor and current king of Malaysia, is very active on Instagram.
Royal existence
It may sound a bit crazy to refer to Sultan Ibrahim as the ‘current’ king. However, there is a good reason for this: in Malaysia the throne rotates between the members of the so-called Majlis Raja-Raja – loosely translated as the Council of Rulers. The nine members of this council elect a new king from among themselves every five years, who can then call himself the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Dennis’ father-in-law was elected last October, and the grand inauguration took place on January 31 this year. We also saw the Dutch Dato making an appearance here and there!
The fifth slide of this Instagram post shows how he arrives at the palace hand in hand with his princess dream.
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Within the palace walls
In general, the Dato is not very prominently in the spotlight. He is of course present at major events, but ultimately it is his brothers-in-law and father-in-law who are mainly in the spotlight here.
The same brothers-in-law are also very active on Instagram, and this shows that it is a good place to be at the court of Malaysia. We see a lot of fast cars, a lot of jet set snapshots, blue seas and lush palm trees gently waving in the wind. Recently, the youngest sultan’s son celebrated his 23rd birthday with an impressive cake in the shape of a racing car.
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In this snapshot, Dennis beams next to his wife, Princess Aminah, who has their eldest daughter in her arm. This little girl is called Laylah Sofia and was born at the beginning of 2020. Their second offspring, about whom almost nothing is known, was born in April 2022.
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The court did share some snapshots of the traditional first haircut of the youngest member – an important milestone in Malaysian culture, which is extensively celebrated in the presence of the entire family.
From football player to model to manager to Dato: Dennis has done it well!
Source: New Straits Times, Glamial archive | Image: NL Image
