Ah!
King Willem-Alexander always drives a car with the same license plate, namely: AA-86. This license plate does not change when the king buys a new car and we will tell you how that is possible!
AA-86
The royal cars are probably all familiar to us. After all, it is the car in which they come to the many visits and festive occasions. While studying the photos – which we mainly do for Máxima’s clothes – one thing always catches our eye: the king’s license plate AA-86.
But what do the AA stand for? Amalia? Alexia? Ariana? As nice as that would be, the letters don’t mean anything at all. In 1951, the current license plate system was introduced in the Netherlands, and as a result, license plates were no longer linked to a person, but to a vehicle. Except for members of the Royal Family. Those license plates remained linked to a person and were given number plates with AA. This made the cars easily recognizable.
And the only reason it’s AA is because it’s the first letter of the alphabet twice. Not very special, then. And the number after AA doesn’t have an exciting explanation either. It’s not the year the car was made. It’s not the year that an 18-year-old Willem-Alexander secretly rode the Elfstedentocht – although that happened to be in 1986. And it’s also not the year that the king met Maxima. It’s just the number that was still available.
No fine
Also fun to know is that the king will probably never get a fine. The cars of the Royal House are namely official cars, which are rarely driven by members of the royal family. In addition, the cars of the court are not registered in the name of the king, but in the name of the Head of General Affairs of the Royal Stables. This person has the honor of signing for all royal license plates. The more we know!
Source: Quest, Glamial archive | Image: NL Image
