Reporting for (royal) duty! Holland’s Princess Catharina-Amalia shares snaps as she trains with armed forces – and even flew in a fighter jet ahead of her 19th birthday

• Dutch Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia has completed military duties this year
• Princess of Orange, 19, was introduced to the Royal Navy, Air Force and Army
• She did everything from flying a jet to going behind the controls of a submarine
• Read more: Holland’s Princess Catharina-Amalia in ‘Dutch mafia kidnap plot’

Dutch Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia has completed military as well as royal duties this year, as she undertook exercises with the Royal Navy, Air Force and Army, it has been revealed. 

The Princess of Orange, 19, did everything from flying a fighter jet to going behind the controls of a submarine as she was introduced to life in each branch of the Netherlands’ armed forces.

Pictures were released of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima’s daughter getting stuck in with life in the armed forces on the Dutch Royal Family’s Instagram ahead of the Princess of Orange’s 19th birthday yesterday. 

The post read: ‘In the past year, the Princess of Orange has met three parts of the Dutch military, on the occasion of her eighteenth birthday.’

Action girl: The troops from the Regiment Huzaren Princess Catharina Amalia pose with rifles as they flank the royal in one impressive image

The future Queen visited Volkel airbase, where she ‘got acquainted’ with life in the Dutch Royal Air Force. 

She got behind the controls of an F-16 and took part in a training flight, as well as speaking to staff at the base. 

The teenage royal got in a range of military vehicles, also going for a ride in a Leopard combat tank. 

In one charming picture she looks up out of the tank’s turret ring and waves – looking a little nervous to be trying out the war machinery.

During her introduction to the Royal Navy, Amalia – as she’s known – went aboard the submarine Zr.Ms. Sea Lion

Pilot princess: Amalia got behind the controls of an F-16 and took part in a training flight, as well as speaking to staff at the base

The Princess chatted with submariners before being given a tour and explanation about life underwater

In one charming picture she looks up out of the tank’s turret ring and waves – looking a little nervous to be trying out the war machinery

During her introduction to the Royal Navy, Amalia – as she’s known – went aboard the submarine Zr.Ms. Sea Lion. 

The Princess chatted with submariners before being given a tour and explanation about life underwater. 

She also controlled the submarine under supervision and allowed it to resurface, according to the Royal family.

One picture shows the young princess concentrating as she is talked through using a submarine’s periscope by an officer. 

On dry land, Amalia got into camos as she met with soldiers assigned to the Cavalry Regiment that bears her name.

The troops from the Regiment Huzaren Princess Catharina Amalia pose with rifles as they flank the royal in one impressive image.

Top gun: It comes after the Princess, a university student, was recently forced to move out of her student halls

The future Queen visited Volkel airbase, where she ‘got acquainted’ with life in the Dutch Royal Air Force

The Princess controlled the submarine under supervision and allowed it to resurface, according to the Royal family. Pictured: the Princess looking through a periscope

The snaps have emerged after the Princess, a university student, was forced to move out of her student halls and back home to the royal palace amid fears she could be targeted by criminals. 

She had moved into a student apartment in Amsterdam after starting her degree at the city’s university, but has now returned to the Huis ten Bosch Royal Palace in The Hague. 

All 17-year old girls in the Netherlands receive letters for military service, including, it seems, the Princess.

Mandatory military service was abolished in 1997, but a 2018 change in the law means girls and boys are sent a letter by the government in the year they turn 17.

All 17-year old girls in the Netherlands receive letters for military service, including, it seems, the Princess

They can take up the service if they choose to but there is no obligation to show up.

The Dutch royal is not the only young princess in Europe to get involved with their country’s military. 

Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 20, juggles her degree in history and politics at Oxford with military training back home. 

This year, the future queen spent the last weekend of her Easter holiday and her summer holidays in training. 

The Belgian royal family released photographs of Elisabeth in face paint and camouflage combat gear as she joined fellow trainee officers to learn essential skills in Leopoldsburg, near the Dutch border.

HRH reporting for duty! Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 20, juggles her degree in history and politics in Oxford with military training back home. The future queen spent the last weekend of her Easter holiday at a training course in Leopoldsburg, near the Dutch border, pictured

Essential skills: The Belgian royal has completed a one-year course at the Royal Military Academy and remains involved with the institution

Over summer Elisabeth also took part in a camp run by the the Royal Military Academy (RMA), the university of the Belgian Defense, responsible for the academic, military and physical training of its future officers. 

Elisabeth enrolled in a course with the RMA in September 2020 and remains involved in training despite being a full-time student at Oxford. 

The balance of academic and military experience is regarded an essential foundation for her future life as queen. 

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