They did not arrive in the United States the way many couples do — the husband, who has a pilot’s license, was in the cockpit of the Boeing 737 jet, serving as the co-pilot for at least part of the flight from Europe.

Still, on their outing in New York City today, the pair, King Willem-Alexander and Queen M?xima of the Netherlands, will do what many tourists do. They will stroll along the High Line and go to a museum.

But they said the trip had a purpose — emphasizing ties between the Netherlands and the United States and strengthening economic connections. The most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that the Netherlands ranked third in direct investment in the United States with $617.1 billion at the end of 2022, after Japan ($712 billion) and the United Kingdom ($663.4 billion).