For the first day of the visit to Georgia, Máxima brought a special accessory out of the closet: her hair decoration from Budget Day 2002.
Let’s start with the program, because: content before form. The royal couple will be received by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at the State Capitol in Atlanta on Monday morning. This will be followed by a discussion with the governor and CEOs of Dutch companies about economic cooperation, mainly in the field of sustainable logistics.
Martin Luther King Jr. Center
Opened in 1968, this historic site aims to promote Martin Luther King’s philosophy and methodology of nonviolence. The Royal Couple visits the museum and lays a wreath at the grave of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King. At the adjacent historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, the Royal Couple will meet representatives of the church community and attend a conversation with young people led by Rev. Bronson Woods.
BeltLine and meeting with the mayor
The BeltLine is a network of public parks and a 35-kilometer multi-use bicycle and walking path built on the site of former railroad tracks. The BeltLine is one of the largest and most comprehensive urban redevelopment programs in the United States, designed to better connect diverse neighborhoods and communities. The royal couple will be accompanied during the walk across the BeltLine by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. The themes of a healthy living environment and affordable housing are explained and opportunities for cooperation with the Netherlands are discussed.
Afternoon program
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visit Patchwerk Recording Studios, a renowned hip-hop studio in Atlanta, where artists such as OutKast, 2Pac, Beyoncé and Madonna have recorded albums. Hip-hop is culturally and economically important to Atlanta. In the afternoon, King Willem-Alexander opens the Dutch company NewCold, an automated refrigerated warehouse. After a networking meeting during which the royal couple speaks with representatives from the logistics sector, they will receive a tour of the company. The afternoon program concludes with a visit to the CDC’s headquarters. There, the king and queen will speak with researchers and scientists about health in relation to the changing climate and will receive an explanation about research into the malaria mosquito during a tour of a laboratory.
Fashion
For the kick-off of the trade mission, Máxima took out a well-known cape dress from fashion house Natan.
You may recognize him from the state visit to Austria.
The hair decoration is even older, because Máxima wore Philip Treacy’s design for the first time on Budget Day 2002. So it is a 22-year-old accessory.
