Few Netherlanders have much objection to Maxima Zorreguieta. Her vivacity, beauty and brains have conquered even the notoriously stiff-necked Beatrix. But polls say 40 percent of the Dutch people don’t want the young woman’s father at the wedding. A few parliamentarians insist the prince should abdicate before marrying into such a family. Why? Jorge Zorreguieta, 73, was a high-ranking Argentine government official during the “dirty war” of 1976-83, when the junta tortured and killed more than 10,000 suspected leftists. Although he has been charged with no crime and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, Dutch human-rights activists are calling for a full investigation.
Forget the Prince of Wales and his star-crossed romance with Camilla Parker Bowles. Their royal frustrations are sweet nothings compared with the melodramas now being played out by some of Europe’s other heirs apparent. The ongoing saga of Willem and Maxima isn’t even the most lurid of the lot. This summer Norway’s royal family is planning three days of nationwide feasting and dancing to mark the Aug. 25 wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and his live-in girlfriend, an admitted veteran of Oslo’s drugged-out house-party scene and a single mother whose former boyfriend was a convicted cocaine supplier. Since Haakon announced their engagement the monarchy’s approval rating has fallen from 75 percent to 64 percent–a level of support most world leaders just dream of. One member of the court says: “What the decision cost him in popularity among older people, he gained among the young.”
A few Norwegians are protesting. Bernt Nilsen, leader of a fledgling republican movement, is trying to get people to boycott the wedding festivities. But Nilsen isn’t likely to spoil the party: these days nearly half the births in Norway are to single mothers or unmarried couples. Anyway, there’s no legal way to nix the nuptials.
Willem is not that lucky. The Dutch Constitution says royal marriage plans are subject to parliamentary approval. And the vote is no empty formality. Parliament nearly vetoed Beatrix’s 1966 marriage to a German commoner, Claus von Amsberg, because of his nationality. Her younger sister Princess Irene was forced to give up any claim to the throne in 1964 when she chose to marry a Roman Catholic and converted to his faith. Religion is not expected to pose a problem for Willem, even though the Zorreguietas are also Catholic. About a year ago Willem’s cousin Prince Bernhard married a Catholic in an ecumenical ceremony, and no one objected.
The issue is Jorge Zorreguieta’s politics, not his daughter’s faith. The aging businessman has insisted that as Agriculture minister he had no part in any atrocities. Dutch human-rights activists aren’t so sure. They claim he had at least indirect responsibility as president of a landowner’s association that is said to have instigated the 1976 coup. Argentina’s human-rights investigators have never seen fit to file charges against him. But some Dutch activists evidently see his case as their chance to revive old questions about Dutch complicity in the dirty war. Hundreds of alleged subversives were thrown to their deaths in the sea from Dutch-built Fokker military aircraft that were sold to the junta.
The activists don’t have nearly enough votes to stop the wedding. They can make a scene, though, and Beatrix hates scenes. Ironically, that’s one thing she likes about Maxima: her sense of decorum. Back home in Argentina she loved short skirts and low tops. Now she dresses like a proper princess. Haakon says his mother, Queen Sonja, has likewise taken a liking to his fiancee, despite a few initial qualms. Someday they may all live happily ever after–even Charles and Camilla. A year ago the bookmaker William Hill was offering odds of 2 to 1 against their ever getting married. Today it’s 3 to 2. Never bet against a prince in love.
