The subjects rarely saw their royal couple with such a serious expression as on October 21, 2020. The otherwise almost perfectly acting team had recently turned a large majority of the Dutch against them.
While the country was in a tough lockdown due to the corona and Prime Minister Mark Rutte had asked the population to stay at home, Willem-Alexander and Máxima had flown to their holiday home in Greece with their three daughters.
It was an unprecedented "misstep" for the two of them, even if the trip, which was immediately interrupted, did not violate the rules.
After the return, the "kneeling" followed in the form of a video message.
"It hurts to have betrayed your trust," said Willem-Alexander with a dull face.
And: "We are affected, but not infallible."
Peter-Philipp Schmitt
Editor in the section “Germany and the World”.
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Máxima is said to have an unerring instinct for people, how to inspire them, to win them over.
The fact that Máxima in particular was so wrong this time may have been due to a certain exhaustion, the royal couple was ready for vacation after the stressful Corona months, but also to the fact that they had much less contact with their people than before the pandemic.
Máxima's greatest strength is being close to people.
This is why it is so popular: other queens or crown princesses may be more beautiful than them, but they beat them all when it comes to the proverbial closeness to the people.
And she not only has that advantage over the other middle class in the royal houses, but also over her husband and mother-in-law, Princess Beatrix.
Born in Argentina, Máxima Zorreguieta has turned the Dutch monarchy inside out. Willem-Alexander, who still often appears moody and downright grouchy, only gained stature through Máxima and also learned from her to fall out of his role in the state. What is more useful than harmful. Máxima masters the fine line between following protocol and etiquette, but at the same time setting her own brightly colored, fashionable accents. She does this with charisma and a hearty laugh so that no one can be angry with her for long.
Her hearts fly to her, which Beatrix, who is considered to be quite difficult, may have recognized early on, which is why she agreed to the initially highly controversial connection between her son and the Argentine woman in the first place. The fact that the future queen also had to fight for her love may have played a role: At the end of the 1960s there were also massive reservations against the German diplomat Claus von Amsberg, who was a boy in the Hitler Youth.
Máxima, born in Buenos Aires on May 17, 1971, is the daughter of Jorge Zorreguieta, who was State Secretary and Minister for Agriculture under the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. When the romance between the Crown Prince and Máxima Zorreguieta became known, there was fierce resistance in the Netherlands against the possible bride, including within the government, which had to agree to a wedding. Willem-Alexander then even defended his father-in-law in an interview that he did not know anything about the crimes and murders of 30,000 opposition members on Videla's behalf. Nevertheless, Beatrix was able to announce the engagement on March 30, 2001, Máxima's parents, Solomon had decided, but were not invited to the wedding.
In the subsequent press conference, at which the journalists demonstratively remained seated when Willem-Alexander and Máxima entered the room, the atmosphere was hostile.
The Argentinean had not only learned fluent Dutch in a very short time, Máxima also responded to Willem-Alexander's unsuccessful interview about Jorge Zorreguieta.
"Hij was een beetje dom" - "He was a bit stupid," she said of her future husband.
With that she had the laughs on her side, the ice was broken.
Nobody had expected her to be so quick-witted, in fact the sentence had been rehearsed.
The trip of the two afterwards through the Netherlands turned into an event, tens of thousands wanted to see Máxima, she was celebrated like a pop star.
Working as a UN special envoy for small businesses
The enthusiasm continues: Máxima is the most popular member of the royal family, also because she, who completed an economics degree, is not only the woman at his side, but has a career of her own. Since 2009 she has been working as a UN special envoy for micro-entrepreneurs around the world so that they can get access to credit. Even without her husband, she is a valued conversation partner and regularly attends World Bank meetings. She is also the mother of three daughters, including the 17-year-old Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia. Willem-Alexander, who has been the first king on the throne since 1890 since 2013, will have a successor. In case the Dutch cling to the monarchy, which no one doubts as long as there is Máxima.