Details emerge over 2001 royal family fight over Maxima’s father

Queen Maxima's father sparked strife in the Dutch Royal family in 2001, when then crown prince Willem-Alexander wanted to go to Argentina to ask Jorge Zorreguieta for Maxima's hand in marriage. Willem-Alexander and Queen Beatrix clashed over his planned trip to Buenos Aires and Zorreguieta's presence at his and Maxima's wedding, culminating in Willem-Alexander saying he'd give up the kingship in order to marry Maxima, AD and ANP report based on a BNNVARA documentary Een Porseleinen Huwelijk.

The reason for the strife is that Zorreguita was a Minister in Argentina's Videla regime, a dictatorship that killed tens of thousands of political opponents. The documentary cites handwritten notes of a meeting at Noordeinde Palace on 15 January 2015 between Queen Beatrix, crown prince Willem-Alexander, and Prime Minister Wim Kok. The notes were taken by Max van der Stoel, the Dutch government's negotiator on the wedding.

Van der Stoel's goal was to prevent Zorreeguita from attending the wedding, which led to a near constitutional crisis. Willem-Alexander intended to get married with or without government approval. In the past, Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Kok always stated that it was Zorreguieta's own choice not to attend his daughter's wedding.

"He cannot come," Kok said about Zorreguita and the wedding, according to the notes. Queen Beatrix was surprised by this bluntness. "Her Majesty was shocked, hadn't heard it so clearly," the notes read. Willem-Alexander announced that he was going to Buenos Aires to get Zorreguita's permission on the marriage: "Prince of Oranje, next weekend wants to go to Buenos Aires to ask her hand. Her Majesty does not want this. Prince of Oranje will. Surprise for Maxima."

Kok explained why the Dutch government did not want Maxima's father at the wedding - because he was a Cabinet member in the Videla dictatorship. This annoyed Willem-Alexander, according to Van der Stoel. "Prins of Oranje angry. You want to have a statement signed at the dotted line (...) You are putting me on the spot."

According to Van der Stoel, Queen Beatrix knew what implications this could have for the monarchy. "Her Majesty told Kok afterward: I am grateful to you, the consequences are incalculable."

According to Reverend Carel ter Linden, a confidant of the royal family, Willem-Alexander was so in love that he was willing to give up the throne in order to marry Maxima. "It has also become clear that he set limits when it came to the choice of his wife. That it was Maxima, or he would leave," said Ter Linden, who officiated the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Maxima in the Nieuwe Kerk just over a year after this argument.

In the end, Willem-Alexander and Maxima managed to convince Zorreguieta not to come to the wedding. Once he declared that he was willing to stay away, the Dutch Cabinet authorized the marriage.