Prime Minister Rutte respected coronavirus rules and did not visit his mother before she passed away

Prime Minister Rutte’s mother has passed away at the age of 96. Rutte has respected the coronavirus rules and not visited his mother in her nursing home in The Hague.

Mieke Rutte-Dilling passed away on 13 May, but her death was announced yesterday by the RVD. She did not die of coronavirus, though the virus was present in the nursing home where she lived.

When asked if Rutte had indeed not visited his mother before she passed away, Rutte’s office confirmed that he had indeed obeyed all the coronavirus rules and not gone into the nursing home.

Via the RVD, Rutte said that he and his family hoped to be able to deal with this loss together soon. He also expressed gratitude. “In addition to the great sorrow and all precious memories, my family and I also have a feeling of gratitude that we were allowed to have her with us for so long.”

On 1 June a trial will begin in the Netherlands where some nursing homes will reopen to visitors, to be followed by all nursing homes on 15 June- provided things go well.

Dutch social media has been filled with condolences and messages of appreciation of the Prime Minister’s decision to respect the lockdown. Rutte has also received messages of condolence from other political parties such as PVV, 50PLUS and DENK.

Lots of people, including the Guardian, have drawn parallels between Rutte’s decision not to break the lockdown for personal reasons, and the current British controversy about the actions of Dominic Cummings.

Feature Image: Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr 

Ailish Lalor
Ailish Lalor
Ailish was born in Sydney, Australia, but grew up by a forest in south-east Ireland, which she has attempted to replace with a living room filled with plants in The Hague. Besides catering to her army of pannenkoekenplantjes, Ailish spends her days convincing her friends that all food is better slightly burnt, plotting ways to hang out with dogs and cats, and of course, writing for DutchReview.

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