Dutch Protestant church officials suggest king Willem-Alexander should make more public statements about his religious beliefs, the NRC reports on Tuesday.

Karin van den Broeke, chairwoman of the church umbrella group PKN, told the NRC God had not been given a ‘strong’ role in his speeches to date and that this was notable.

For example, the memorial ceremony for the people who died in the flight MH17 plane crash could have had a religious element, Van den Broeke said.

Earlier, the staunchly conservative Reformatorisch Dagblad criticised the king for not referring to Jesus in his Christmas broadcast. The paper has also criticised the king and his wife queen Máxima for taking part in activities on Sunday.

Queen Beatrix made no secret of the importance of God to her, the NRC pointed out.