On Thursday, August 15, Hassan Outaklla will have his first day at work as the new advisor to the King of the Netherlands. The Moroccan-Dutch was appointed in July by King Willem-Alexander, succeeding to Bram Gille, who had been Deputy Secretary General of the Dutch royal family since February. «Outaklla will bring some color and diversity to the Dutch royal palace», wrote Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, recalling that Outaklla's profile and background are very unique, even though he was born and raised in Amsterdam. After studying political science and working for four years as a consultant at KPMG, a multinational professional services network, Outaklla was hired by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, known as AFM. As a 23-year-old professional he told NRC Handelsblad that he doesn't «see [his] ethnic background as an obstacle». «I am ambitious. I can connect two worlds and that is very important for an internationalizing world», he declared. Indeed, Outaklla's ambitions brought his to the royal palace in Amsterdam, where he is expected to advise the King on domestic matters such as meetings he should attend and invitations he shouldn't deny.
