Crown Prince Willem-Alexander is to travel to Greenland on Friday for a six-day visit to the polar region at the invitation of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WNF).

The trip was planned by experienced polar explorers Philip de Roo and Marc Cornelissen, who will accompany the prince during his stay in Greenland.

The princely party will also include Robbert Dijkgraaf, the president of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Board Eric Oostwegel from engineering firm Royal Haskoning and WNF Director Johan van de Gronden.

The trip is intended to increase the participants’ knowledge and awareness of the vulnerable polar region. The group will spend part of their visit to Greenland camping out on the ice cap. Also on the itinerary is a visit to an office of the European Space Agency and a meeting with Greenland Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist and representative of indigenous peoples.

During their trip, the participants will be blogging on the WNF website. Prince Willem-Alexander has been asked to write the final entry.

(gsh)