What a wonderful world it is when the opportunity presents itself to meet someone of royalty.  His Highness Pieter-Christiaan Michiel, prince of Orange-Nassau, the Netherlands ran his fifth marathon in Honolulu last month.  He was the first European royal to participate in the race.

The handsome and popular 30-year-old Dutch prince gave me some of his time while recovering from his toughest marathon. The bachelor prince had previously run three New York City Marathons and the London Marathon. A member of the royal house and 8^th in the line of succession, he is the third of four sons of Princess Margriet (who was born in Canada) and nephew of Queen Beatrix.

I found Prince Pieter-Christiaan to be a very charming and considerate young man. A reserve major in the military police and a former law student at Ultrecht University, he is currently living in London and working for a bank. He occasionally trains with former London Marathon winner Hugh Jones and is often seen running with his dogs. Animals and wildlife are two of his passions. His racing singlet bears the logo of the WWF - World Wildlife Fund. He has worked for a zoo and also is an avid scuba diver.  These connections along with his grandfather's guidance have encouraged him to support WWF's endangered seas program to protect coral reefs. WWF has two global targets to stop overfishing and manage marine protected areas covering at least ten percent of the world's oceans.

Wearing number 100 during the race, the prince fought off stomach problems and was determined to finish the race.  Despite spending much of the previous night with the flu and intestinal problems during the race that forced him to stop five times, he still managed to help a women he met on the course break four hours and to run a 3:50 marathon himself. 

He had hoped to set a personal best and run in the 3:20's.  With his plans dashed he called his parents after the race to express his disappointment. While lying on a massage table he was almost brought to tears as they told him how very proud they were of his accomplishment.

Later that evening, Prince Pieter-Christiaan still looked a little ashen faced as he attended a post race luau for invited runners. He graciously sat with well wishers and spoke of preparing for some future marathons. Had we known of his musical talents he may have been encourage to display his talents on the saxophone.  I'm sure the organizers will give him another opportunity next year.