It’s a right royal bonanza in today’s Dutch papers with news of William and Kate’s big day, Dutch Queen’s Day celebrations and a knighthood for a football hero. But watch out: there’s espionage afoot and a crisis in higher education.

William and Kate: a royal love match
All of the Dutch papers devote page after page to what AD is calling “the wedding of the century”. For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past few months, Britain’s Prince William is due to wed Kate Middleton at London’s Westminster Abbey today.

“London is yearning for the kiss,” swoons De Telegraaf in full-on romantic mode: “love reigns ... William and Kate will withstand every storm”. It describes Prince William as “a true romantic ... who has resolved never to lose the great love of his life”.

Back down on earth, Trouw characterises William and Kate as “the killer combination of a laid-back prince and a modest girl” and asks “will they change much in the conservative British royal house?” Probably not if the headline is anything to go by “Priority number 1: a baby”.

The price of Dutch royalty
The royal wedding overkill has rather eclipsed the Netherlands’ own royal party: tomorrow’s Queen’s Day celebrations. De Volkskrant compares the two kingdoms, calculating that “the Dutch monarchy costs seven million less than the British,” but that the British royals generate many hundreds of millions more in revenue.

Columnist Peter de Waard asks: “Is the Netherlands fully exploiting its royal brand?” And concludes: “If you want to cling to the fairytale of hereditary succession, you’d better take care of the economics as well.”

The main event on Queen’s Day is a good old-fashioned royal family walkabout in a different party of the country each year. But de Volkskrant describes how one village the royals are visiting has been turned into “a fortress with 1,300 police on the streets and a security camera on every corner. Price tag: 700,000 euros.”

In the shadow of an attempted attack on the royals two years ago, preparations for the festivities appear to be less about having fun and more about “the hunt for a lone madman”.

Dutch higher education colleges: rotten to the core?
Today’s front pages feature the news of what AD calls “a crisis in higher education”. They report that a worrying number of the Netherlands’ higher education colleges – or “universities of applied sciences” as they like to call themselves – are teaching courses that are under par. The paper explains “students are furious and wonder what their qualifications are worth”.

“Is this a case of a few bad apples, or is the whole basket rotten?” asks AD. The head of the council that supervises the colleges insists “you can still go to college with confidence”. But one disgruntled student will take some convincing: “I’ve spent five years on this course and all for nothing. No one will take me seriously at a job interview. Everyone knows the course I was on has lost its accreditation.”

Trouw offers a few words of comfort. It talks to job market experts who remind readers that “a poor quality degree doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance ... It can even count in your favour if you’ve done a dodgy course, but worked hard to supplement it afterwards.”

Dutch spy not quite the high-flyer
Several of today’s papers report on what De Telegraaf reckons is “a unique case of military espionage”. A former Dutch F-16 pilot is suspected of attempting to sell classified information to interested parties in Belarus. The paper reports that the man has massive debts and was looking “to sell state secrets to the highest bidder”.

The would-be spy’s former colleagues don’t have a good word to say about him. One tells the paper “He had a big mouth and was always on about expensive sports cars, beautiful women and big money. He was more at home in the bar than in the air above Afghanistan or Libya.”

With a flair for irony, the paper notes that shortly before his arrest the pilot posted his new personal motto on the internet: “Success is a choice”. With a 15-year jail term on the cards, maybe it’s time for a new one.

Arise Sir Clarence
AC Milan footballer Clarence Seedorf beams out at us from the pages of all today’s papers, proudly sporting the royal honour awarded to him yesterday at the Dutch embassy in Rome. NRC.next reports that the star player was knighted for services to sport and contributions to society, most notably through his Champions for Children Foundation.

In most of the photos he’s accompanied by none other than Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, looking eerily like his own waxwork. On AD’s front page, the pair are clutching wooden shoes, Seedorf’s complete with football studs and in the colours of AC Milan.

Berlusconi pays tribute to his Dutch chum as a “real gentleman”, adding mischievously “Seedorf comes from a family of footballers ... if he becomes trainer at AC Milan he can bring his brother and his nephew with him. Around here, we’re not averse to a bit of nepotism!”