No wonder it is the Royal Dutch Airlines, the king himself is flying you on KLM

As a King, he has been flying since 2013 as that is when he took over as King after his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated at age 75. Alexander became the Netherlands’ first king in 123 years after three successive queens.

He was rarely recognised as the king during in-flight announcements. As a co-pilot, he also doesn’t have to give his name. “Most people don’t listen anyway,” he told the news outlet. While earlier people were allowed to go in the cockpit and meet the king, after the 9/11 attacks in the US, this was stopped as a measure of security and safety of the king.

“Before September 11, the cockpit door was open,” he said, adding how people regularly came to have a look and thought it was nice or surprising that I was sitting there,” he said. He also said that few people recognised him as he walked through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, in the airlines uniform and cap.

Prince William of Britain is another Royal who has flown. He was a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot for the British military and has flown for an air ambulance service. Prince Harry too flew Apache attack helicopters in Afghanistan with British Army Air Corps. Even Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei sometimes pilots his own flights within the state.