Guillermo de Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta were married on February 2, 2002 in the New Church of Amsterdam. He was then the crown prince of the Dutch crown and she was an Argentine economist. They had met in 1999 in Seville, during the April Fair. Since that day of the wedding, 20 years have passed in which three daughters have arrived, the princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane. And another change: they have occupied the throne since 2013. Both of them have a strong character, the marriage has benefited from a kind of personal pact that has allowed the queen to develop her own career without violating the Constitution. She is a UN ambassador for financial inclusion, and he has gained ease and closeness in her role. They form a solid team with a sense of humor, but the pandemic has taken its toll on them. As with other European royal houses, they have been seen less due to restrictions, when presence in society is vital for parliamentary monarchies. And his vacations in Greece in 2020, at the same time that the Government asked for restraint in travel to avoid contagion, was a scandal that has led to a decline in his popularity and reveals some cracks between public and private.
King William has two official palaces in The Hague: Huis ten Bosch and Noordeinde. The first is the family home. The other is colloquially known as “the office palace” because that is where he works. “There, the schedule is not only from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon when he is Present. Is where the monarchy operates 24 hours a day throughout the week,” says Rick Evers, author of a biography on Queen Máxima, on the phone. “Since they reign, Guillermo and Máxima have opened up more to the press. In the private sphere, on the other hand, the couple is strict with their time and activities. They want their daughters to have a peaceful childhood, but other royal families don’t mind so much if they are photographed outside of official posing,” says Evers. In his opinion, Máxima’s popularity is due to her outgoing nature and to the fact that she has more room for maneuver than her father-in-law, Prince Claus, born in Germany, consort of the former queen (and now princess) Beatrice.
Evers maintains that Guillermo “has promised himself that what happened with his father would not be repeated with Máxima, and hence he has even more presence than other European consorts.” Passed away in 2002, Claus, Beatriz’s husband, was a valuable diplomat without freedom of action. The Executive cut his functions to avoid fiascoes like the one carried out in another generation by his mother-in-law, Prince Bernardo. Also of German origin, he received a million dollars in 1976 from the American aviation company Lockheed Martin. It was to influence the Dutch government in the purchase of brand equipment, and the bribery caused an institutional crisis in the Netherlands. Bernardo was removed from various public functions, and when Beatriz ascended the throne in 1980, the Executive reduced the work of Prince Claus, thus ignoring his qualities. Máxima’s activities on behalf of the Netherlands are mentioned today as much or more than her flashy wardrobe.
The current kings were about to cause their own institutional crisis before getting married due to another family matter, which they overcame more united than ever. Jorge Zorreguieta, her father, was Secretary of Agriculture in Argentina between 1976 and 1981, during the dictatorship of Jorge Videla. This political past was a matter of state in the Netherlands, and since William could not marry against the advice of Parliament, the Ministry of General Affairs – dependent on the Prime Minister – commissioned a report. Its author, Michiel Baud, a specialist in Latin America, concluded in 2001 that it was “inconceivable that the father was unaware of the repression in his country,” although he added that it was “practically impossible that he was involved in the violation of human rights.” .
The Executive decided that their parents should not attend the wedding, but according to the version given by a new documentary broadcast by the Dutch public channel BNNVARA, in reality it was not until they gave up going to the wedding that the wedding was finally authorized. In her official presentation, Máxima released that ballast without hurting anyone. In good Dutch, she lamented that her father “worked so hard for a wrong government.” During the wedding ceremony, dressed by Valentino and with a tiara of stars, she cried listening to her father’s favorite tango and the popularity of the new princess of Orange skyrocketed. Up to now.
Twenty years later, their poorly scheduled leisure time during the pandemic has taken a toll on them. From their frustrated vacation in Greece, in 2020, for which they apologized, to the two million euros spent on a new yacht. Years before, he had liked the project for a summer villa in Mozambique even less. Started in 2008, in the midst of the global financial crisis, they transferred it in 2012. In the last two cases it is not so much the tension between the public and the private as a disbursement considered more typical of millionaires without institutional responsibilities. Upon turning 50, Queen Máxima assured in a television interview that the yacht belonged to her “private sphere”. “We work hard in our official work,” she stressed.
Rick Evers points out these errors, but also the difficulties of the Crown’s information service in improving the communication of the Royal House. “The kings have their own ideas about it and it is not easy to convince them. I think the Scandinavian monarchies are more cooperative. Queen Margaret of Denmark, for example, is very popular and is even photographed embroidering. Or Felipe and Matilde of Belgium, who began with less public hook and have been gaining in respect and appreciation since their arrival on the throne. For this reason, it seems to him that Guillermo and Máxima de Orange will have to continue working hard to bequeath the crown to her daughter Amalia, who has already turned 18, in good condition.
#Guillermo #Máxima #Orange #years #successful #love #clouded #covid