Dutch royalty to descend upon Vancouver Art Gallery

Staff at the Vancouver Art Gallery are likely to be boning up on their etiquette given the news that Dutch royalty will be deigning to step into the gallery for the opening of Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum.

The Netherlands’s Princess Marilí¨ne and her husband, Prince Maurits van Oranje-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, will attend the VAG’s Dutch Masters Ball May 9. The fundraising event will begin, naturally, with a champagne reception and special toast to their Highnesses, followed by a formal dinner prepared by Dutch Michelin star chef Robert Kranenborg, live music by The New Dutch Academy from The Hague, an auction of luxury items, and dancing tunes from Vancouver’s Dal Richards.

Of course, the chance to brush shoulders royalty isn’t one that comes cheap. According to the VAG, a limited supply of tickets remain to the black tie event, priced at $600 each, and available through the gallery’s reservation line at 604-662-4747.

Hopefully there’ll be no gaffes of the Michelle Obama-hugs-Queen-Elizabeth variety. One thing attendees may want to know, when mingling with the Dutch, is to be on alert for their strange triple cheek-kissing greeting (not necessarily appropriate for royalty, mind): right cheek, left cheek, then right cheek again, just for good measure.

If you’re not expecting that third peck, those lips may be planted elsewhere altogether, resulting in plenty of awkwardness (take it from me).