Just before Dutch Queen Máxima became engaged to Willem-Alexander – at the time still a prince – in 2001, she covertly lived in Brussels for about a year.
Between May 2000 and April 2001, Máxima lived in Brussels. She already had a relationship with Willem-Alexander and the couple spent a lot of time in Brussels getting to know each other better in peace and anonymity.
"It is not known exactly where she lived," royalty expert Joëlle Vanden Houden said on Flemish radio. "There was one photo of a certain apartment circulating, but we were not sure she lived there, and we did not go looking for it either. We did know that she went to 'hairdresser Roger' on the Avenue Louise, which is also where she discovered [fashion house] Natan."
Máxima worked as an economist at the Deutsche Bank in New York but she applied for a transfer to Brussels immediately after meeting Willem-Alexander.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima pictured during a state visit. Credit: Belga/Benoit Doppagne
It was important that the two found time here to get to know each other better and Brussels was the ideal place for that, said Vanden Houden. "The Brussels–The Hague commute is simply more practical than New York-The Hague. And they could also simply walk around incognito in the Belgian capital."
The freedom they found at the time would be a lot more difficult in the present day, as everyone has a camera on their mobile phones. "It will be much more difficult for [Belgian Crown Princess] Elisabeth, for example. Let's hope for her that she can study abroad as long as possible and get to know someone there."
During that year, Máxima distanced herself from her South American roots: her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, was controversial as he had been the Agriculture Minister during the regime of former Argentine President Videla, a military dictator who was responsible for many atrocities against civilians.
"Some things had to be clarified [in the Dutch Parliament] about that. It was certainly necessary for politics. And that took a while," Vanden Houden explains, adding that Máxima used the time in Belgium to learn Dutch: she followed a language immersion in the city of Spa, where Belgian Queen Mathilde and former Queen Paola also took lessons.
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She also formed a special bond with couturier Edouard Vermeulen of the fashion house Natan. "When she was still a princess, she went to Zara on Avenue Louise and now as queen she will undoubtedly only come for Edouard Vermeulen and his fashion house Natan."
Vanden Houden suspects that there is a lot more of Brussels that Máxima holds close to her heart. "Perhaps she also learned to eat certain specialities here, who knows even tomate-crevettes, or moules-frites. Or maybe even beer... Máxima reportedly was real a partygirl."
