Tuesday 29 January 2013

Toilet Hurling: The Sport of Kings

It really is lucky that our friends read the - for want of a better word - news. Otherwise we wouldn't know the following fascinating information about Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. Now that we do, however, we are of course - for want of a better word - thrilled. Semi-Intellectual Friend alerted us to this BBC article:
The heir to the Dutch throne made a media splash by hurling a toilet for fun in a contest recently - but has now spoken of his shame.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander said the event on Queen's Day last month was "a laugh", but he also felt "shame at the thought of some 2.6 billion people around the world" who lack toilets.
He won a cup with a little toilet on top as a prize.
The 30 April festivities were held in the eastern village of Rhenen.
The crown prince's younger brother Prince Constantijn also hurled a toilet in the contest, but not as far.
The annual festival marks the birthday of Queen Beatrix's late mother Queen Juliana.
The crown prince is also chairman of the UN's water and sanitation advisory board (UNSGAB) and the Dutch government's information service later insisted that he was not ashamed of his involvement in the contest.
He had taken part because the toilets were destined for a project in Gambia, it said.
Woof. The athletic Crown Prince hurling, not into the toilet, but a toilet.
(Struggling to get our heads round that one.) Image from Huffingtonpost
 The news of Queen Beatrix's abdication will, of course, mean that the toilet-hurling Crown Prince will soon become King of the Netherlands, a task which we imagine will be slightly less exciting than that of being King of Louisiana. The Queen of the United Kingdom reported on the abdication with her customary vim and stiff-upper-lipness:
"Text from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands: 'Bollocks to it, I'm abdicating'. No staying power, these European Queens."
Read more official news on the abdication here.

Related Reading
All posts about Royal Toilets
Posts highlighting sanitation issues in the developing world:
A Morally Improving Story for World Toilet Day
We Receive a Postcard
Taking a Gander at Greatness
Toilet Song: Soda Soap

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