Queen Máxima of the Netherlands visited the Bay Area on Tuesday as part of a three-day tour of the United States.
San Francisco was the first stop, with City Hall rolling out a red carpet welcome for the queen.
During a discussion at Salesforce Tower, panelists highlighted the goals and challenges California and Holland share.
"So many of our conversations stem from our lack of housing," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. "I know that the Netherlands faces these same challenges especially in its largest city, Amsterdam.
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Climate change, trade, and security are all themes of the queen's three-day visit -- inclusion is another.
Queen Máxima also toured San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, visiting the LGBT Historical Society Museum.
For Holland natives living in San Francisco, this was a rare up-close encounter with the queen.
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"I have never ever seen her," San Francisco resident Ingrid Buscher said. "In Europe, whenever there's a royal visit, the queues, the lines are six or eight rows deep."
The queen also met with HIV advocates and trans community leaders inside the Twin Peaks Lounge.
"The Netherlands and San Francisco share so many things in common," Queen Máxima said. "But the support for the LGBT community, it is something that we feel so strongly about."
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage in 2001, so having the queen in the Castro is significant.
"I think it's a big deal," San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. "I think it shows the big role that the Netherlands has played around LGBTQ equality, and clearly the importance of the Castro around the queer civil rights movement and queer culture."
Tuesday's visit by Dutch Queen Máxima is the first official royal visit to San Francisco since 2005, when Prince Charles of the United Kingdom visited the city.
Queen Máxima was supposed to accompany Dutch King Willem-Alexander on this trip, but he could not travel because has pneumonia. The queen's tour of the United States continues with a visit to Berkeley and Stanford on Wednesday, and will conclude with a visit to Austin, Texas.
