In the summer of 2021, Countess Eloise van Oranje drank a cappuccino with Vorsten editor Karlijn Hoftijzer to talk about her new student life and her first book. This interview previously appeared on Vorsten 10, 2021.
“Sorry, I’m a little late, this morning is already quite messy,” apologizes Eloise when she arrives a bit late at Café Zurich on the Mercatorplein in Amsterdam. It is no coincidence that she takes time from Forsten to talk about her new book and new life in this very place: the café five minutes from the school hotel where she studies and she loves to come there with her fellow students for lunch or a drink. , as you say. She also lists the café as one of her favorite cafés in her book Learning via the appthat saw daylight in June. In the book, she presents her view on a number of important topics in her life at the moment, such as moving into rooms, foodOld clothes and feeling good about yourself. Eloise started the public Instagram account eloisevanoranje at the age of eighteen and quickly gained a large following. In the summer of 2021 there will be more than 250,000. She regularly answers a variety of questions from her followers, which gave her the idea to tackle the answers in a lifestyle book, which will be especially popular among young girls. In the introduction to her book, she thanks her followers: “You welcomed me into this big world of social media and accepted my openness and my silliness.” Eloise looks exactly as she did on Instagram today: “My blouse is old, the pants are from my mom, and my shoes are from my brother’s store.” The necklace she received at her baptism from her uncle Friso hangs around her neck, as she talks about in her book. When she ordered a cappuccino and a slice of banana bread, she explained that she had just moved into a new apartment she shares with two friends: “Oh, I’m telling you that for the first time!” For the first year, she lived in boarding rooms and shared her room with a fellow student. Now the campus must be emptied and her things moved to her new location with “mother” Laurentien. “I moved the last things myself,” she says with a laugh.
You recently got your driver’s license, so you could have moved your things yourself?
“Well, I don’t have my own car and haven’t really had much time to drive yet, not even at home with my parents. I recently rode a moped through Amsterdam, and it was so much fun. I hope I don’t feel too lazy now and don’t want to ride a bike anymore.”
I just got Learning via the app How have the past few weeks been with all this press coverage?
“Not normal, very busy, especially towards the end of the first school year. Now I have to work eight hour shifts in school for five days as if I was working full time. For example in the hotel or in the kitchen. This is very intense. Honestly, I would have preferred to spend my time doing other things. For example, do more yourself when organizing the book launch. I want to be everywhere at all times and help everyone, especially if it is something I organize myself. But it is no different, my school obligations important as well.”
On Press Day, you drive a bus through the Netherlands to deliver your book to different influencers and to collect life lessons. How was that?
“Things always go wrong for me in a way because I’m quite chaotic, but thanks to teamwork with Chickslovefood, with whom I co-authored the book, it went really well. It was a day filled with fun encounters with special people who all had their own experiences. Every meeting was Different, and everyone was very open minded. Of course I keep these life lessons well. I thought about the car at home: I don’t want this day to end! It’s so inspiring to work with so many energetic women.”
What life lesson will you teach little Elo?
“I want to give a life lesson to my fifteen year old self. I will then say: Don’t care too much about what people think. Be yourself, don’t care about other people’s comments. This may sound so easy, but I’m used to being insecure even about my looks, but I worry more about my inner self. Do people love me? Do I say the right things? Am I not strange in my behavior? While this does not matter at all. And I had really nice friends, but I still had that soft voice in my head. If I were to give a lesson, I would say: It doesn’t matter, as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror. And don’t take everything too seriously. The next day, everyone often forgot exactly what was said. ”
But now you’ve also experienced that the things you do or say are not immediately forgotten the next day. Be it positive or negative.
“Yeah, that’s really funny. This switch. Those kinds of things don’t bother me. That’s why I can now teach this life lesson to my fifteen-year-old self.”
Did you have to know that?
It used to be more difficult. For example, if untrue things were said about my family, I might be really sad about it. There wasn’t really a time when I thought, Well Elo, now it just doesn’t matter anymore. Flip this switch. It has come gradually.”
Is it more difficult when it comes to family? For example, you defended your brother Klaus when he was said to have been expelled from school and therefore to Gordonston?
“Yeah, because what was said wasn’t true at all. It was just a big chance! He was really into that too. If he’s doing something for the family, he’s doing something for me. When it comes to myself, I let it slip away from me, but when I see he’s doing something for my family, he’s doing something for me.” I don’t stand to the side like, ‘Yeah, it happens.’ Klaus is doing really well there and I’m proud of him. [Inmiddels heeft Claus zijn diploma op zak, red.] He has even won an award with his friends as Scotland’s Best Young Entrepreneur. I really don’t understand why people write things that are not true. And you don’t even dare admit it when you confront them about it.”
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With brother Klaus and sister Leonor in 2012
In your book, you talk about the precious jewelry of your relatives. A ring you got from your grandmother Beatrix and a necklace from your uncle Friso. Why don’t you talk more about your family in your book?
“Because it’s not really me. The book is about followers’ questions, about what concerns me. So why am I talking about my family? I prefer to write about the things that I am passionate about. My family is of course a big part of my personal life but I don’t write about it.” Learning via the app Not about Eloise van Oranje but about Eloise. I do not want Self centered I seem to be more than my family name. Fortunately, the questions my followers ask are also about more than one
Which.”
This last name carries positive and negative things with it?
“It’s not a negative thing, it’s a part of me, as everyone is. But it feels negative when people say, ‘You only achieve things because you have that last name.’ It’s very easy to say. I work hard for the things I do. When I didn’t have my Instagram account for a long time, people said I just got – or even bought – my pre-university diploma this way. At the time I was really thinking: You don’t want to know how much effort I have to put in for That. It really doesn’t just come to me. So yeah, those might be some of the negatives, but then again, it’s a little further away from me too.”
Is this the biggest bias anyone could have about you?
“Yes, it will all come so easily and that I don’t have to do my best for anything. Or the people who say, ‘I didn’t expect you to be so kind and open, I thought you’d be a bit cocky.’ I always wonder where that came from. But Hey, people have prejudices. I’m glad I can show the opposite. Just by being who I am. I hope people don’t think I’m cocky, but I shouldn’t dwell on it. I’m trying to show I’m only normal.”
But how do you notice that you are not from an ordinary family?
“Maybe because everything I post or say is put under a magnifying glass. Especially things that are not news at all.”
For example, when you post on Instagram you sometimes find it difficult to take pictures of yourself in public? Then that is addressed in a big way.
“Yeah, that! My dad asked me, “Hello, are you okay?” I didn’t know what he was talking about. I said, “I think you know more than I do, I’m doing really well!” Then he said he heard I’m not feeling well So that wasn’t the case at all. He had heard from someone that it wasn’t going well, but it was because my letter was misinterpreted.”
People just find your life interesting
“Why? I don’t know. With an example now, I don’t want to say I’m different from others, but I’m in a special situation. But my book is actually about my own advice for other girls my age. And the message is right: Everyone is normal and everyone is special.”
Your mother gave you notes for your book. How is your relationship with her?
“Very well, I always go to her when I need advice. She helped me – just like my dad – with the book. She knows what it means to write a book, I’m still used to being an author. I have a strong relationship with my mother. When she takes me to Amsterdam or picks me up, she always Our trips have meaning. We never talk about small talk. For example, during the ride we have the address Learning via the app Or we talk about other big things in my life.”
Do you feel you have an exemplary role as an influencer, for example when you received a vaccination? Then I put in a disclaimer, if that’s the case, everyone should make a choice in the matter.
“Haha, influencer, that still sounds weird. But yeah, more because people asked me what shot I got and how I felt afterwards. I’m not a GP so I can’t give you advice. I can’t tell you how it should be. No I want to give false information or play the role of a doctor.”
You love vintage clothes and on your Insta and in your book you show that this is a sustainable choice. Are there more things you’d like to talk about?
“Yes, one hundred percent. I have a lot of ideas and opinions, I would like to talk more about it and I will. I have such a great platform, and then you can not only pay attention to the kind of photos you post, but you can also pay attention to the messages you share. It is my pleasure To do something really interesting with such a large platform of people who find what I do interesting. It’s not just a pretty picture here and a pretty picture there, but something of value. For example, why sustainable fashion is so important. Or why bias is useless. We have to continue to be aware of what’s real and what’s fake using social media. And don’t just put people in boxes. The world really isn’t getting any better from that.”
