After participating in the Elfstedentocht and New York Marathon, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander set his sights on car racing in the early ’90s. Trained in utmost secrecy, the future king embarked on a journey that involved a racing course, security guards, nightlife, confiscated film rolls, and a veto from Prime Minister Lubbers. Or was it Queen Beatrix?
Friday, October 8, 1993. The front page of De Telegraaf featured stories about a brothel owner with a kidnapped son and a jail sentence for the corrupt mayor of Brunssum. However, a headline in the top right corner quickly caught the eye: ‘Prince passes racing license’.
That was the day the Netherlands discovered their future king’s talent for car racing. Willem-Alexander had been secretly taking a course to earn his racing license.
The news spread like wildfire. The crown prince would one day rule the entire country, but on this October day in 1993, he was already the king of Zandvoort and its surroundings.
‘One of the guys’
Tom Coronel, along with other instructors, was asked to provide lessons, and it turned out that even more members of the royal family were involved. “Huub Vermeulen, from the Rensportschool Zandvoort, called. He told us: ‘Guys, you need to come over on Tuesday evening’. We did, it was in the OCA building (of the marshals in Zandvoort). We walked in, and almost the entire Royal Family was there.”
Coronel frequently taught the crown prince during this time. “He was one of the guys, he didn’t act like he was very special.” The two got along well: “I just called him Alex. We are similar types and roughly the same age (Coronel was born in 1972, the king in 1967). I liked and still like him.”
