by Enrica Roddolo
Born in Buenos Aires, Maxima is the daughter of Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, who was a minister during Videla’s regime. Her love affair with the heir prince caused an earthquake at the Dutch court: her story tonight on Rai 1
Variety asked if the TV series about Queen Maxima of the Netherlands (airing on Rai 1 on September 2 and 3) could become the new The Crown. After all, the life of the Argentine woman who became the queen consort alongside King Willem-Alexander, son of Queen Beatrix who abdicated in her favor in 2013 after 33 years of reign, is filled with twists and turns worthy of a television tale.
Maxima Zorreguieta’s adventurous life began in Argentina and she crossed the ocean to become a queen in Europe. In Europe, the Queen of the Netherlands was among the royals most present at the Paris Olympics, alongside King Willem-Alexander and heir Catharina-Amalia. They visited the orange team at the Olympic Village after braving the weather at the opening ceremony, shielded by a transparent raincoat.
From Buenos Aires to New York
Born on May 17, 1971, in Buenos Aires, Maxima is the firstborn of Jorge Horacio and Maria del Carmen Cerruti, who have three other children (two sons and one daughter) besides the Queen of the Netherlands. Raised in Argentina and graduated from the Catholic University, she lived in New York from 1995 to 2000, working first for HSBC and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and then for Deutsche Bank.
She Meets the King (by Chance) in Seville
The meeting with Willem-Alexander happened by chance in Seville, in April 1999. A year later, the decision would be made to move to Brussels to be closer to her Willem. Sporty, passionate about skiing and hockey, Maxima understood that although the Nordic monarchies are considered “bicycle monarchies,” to signify the ease and liberality with which royals bear their crown throughout the country, a king is always a king and a princess cannot be at the center of gossip.
Maxima’s Heavy Past
Maxima Zorreguieta arrived with a heavy baggage, a personal history that spans a country on the other side of the world. For the heir to the Dutch throne, marrying Maxima was indeed a true state affair. And one of the most intricate to resolve.
An exuberant woman with a career launched in finance in New York – she is a brilliant economist and expert in numbers and business – Maxima carried for months, before the wedding, the burden of a kind of “original sin” that prevented her from walking down the aisle with her father Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta. Indeed, Jorge Horacio had lived through the era of the colonels in Argentina, holding a significant government position at that time: Minister of Agriculture under General Jorge Rafael Videla’s regime.
Thus, before the Royal wedding celebrated on February 1, 2002, at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, the Dutch Parliament had to address the involvement in those years of atrocities and secrets of the girl about to join the royal family. They concluded that at the time she was in elementary school and could not have known.
The Marriage Proposal on Skates
After their first meeting, in May 2000, Maxima had moved to the European Union Representative Office of Deutsche Bank in Brussels. Prince Willem-Alexander proposed to her a year later while they were skating on an icy lake near the Huis ten Bosch palace.
That wedding, celebrated joyfully but also with a tear on her cheek at the moment of “I do” – Maxima was sad not to have her family with her – melted the sincere affection of the Dutch people, who have adored her since that day.
The Comparison with Wilhelmina
Today, through the streets of Amsterdam, where the two princes lived during their engagement before moving to a residence in the green Dutch countryside, Maxima’s name is associated with that of Wilhelmina, the most beloved queen in the recent history of the Netherlands.
And her firstborn, Catharina-Amalia, is the beloved heir who upon turning 18 renounced the 1.6 million euros in allowance that she would have received upon reaching adulthood. As for Queen Maxima, in 2023 she returned to don the garb of an economist for a day, intervening with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the spring summit of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington. The queen spoke at the seminar “Digital Public Infrastructure: Stacking up the Benefits,” reaffirming her attention to the issue of economic sustainability.
All the Scandals at the Dutch Court
If the love between Willem and Maxima caused a stir at court, considering the future queen’s family past, the queen Beatrix’s fight for Prince Claus was no less contested. The then 25-year-old Princess Beatrix had fallen in love with the German Claus von Amsberg, who had past (alleged) sympathies for the Hitler Youth: enough to open the Pandora’s box of debate on the usefulness of the monarchy in the post-war era.
Not to mention that the love between Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, years earlier, had sparked heated public debate. So much so that the doyenne of the Dutch sovereigns, Queen Wilhelmina, had to spearhead a campaign for love, to dispel any other interpretation regarding her daughter’s union with a German: “This is simply my daughter’s marriage to the man she loves. It is not the marriage of the Netherlands with Germany.”
The Prince and the “Gossip” Blonde
Simplicity and popularity, despite considerable wealth. This is the recipe of the Dutch monarchy. Over the years, it has brushed against a crisis of identity and public affection at least on two other occasions.
The first time was when heir Willem-Alexander announced his engagement to a beautiful Argentine, and then when Prince Johan Friso decided to marry the blonde Mabel Wisse Smit, defying the irritation of the entire Parliament and especially that of Queen Beatrix, concerned about the gossip surrounding the bride’s past, surrounded previously by ambiguous friendships.
In the end, however, after hundreds of letters in favor of Mabel pouring in at court, including one from philanthropist financier George Soros vouching for the girl’s honesty, who had worked for one of his humanitarian organizations, Johan Friso took his beloved to the altar in the medieval town of Delft. Paying the price of love: he lost all rights to the Dutch throne.
The TV Series on Rai 1
A ratings champion in the Netherlands, Maxima (two seasons in total) tells the story of the Queen consort of the Netherlands. The cast of the TV series, presented at Canneseries, includes Argentine actress and model Delfina Chaves and Dutch Martijn Lakemeier (who also fell in love on set). Maxima airs in prime time on Rai 1 starting Tuesday, August 13.