Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria; born 7 December 2003) is the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten.

Catharina-Amalia
Princess of Orange
Catharina-Amalia in 2019
Born (2003-12-07) 7 December 2003[1]
The Hague, Netherlands
Names
Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria
HouseOrange-Nassau
FatherWillem-Alexander of the Netherlands
MotherMáxima Zorreguieta Cerruti

Catharina-Amalia is the eldest child of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. She became heir apparent to the Dutch throne when her father ascended the throne on 30 April 2013.

Birth

Princess Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria was born at 17:01 CET on 7 December 2003 in the HMC Bronovo in The Hague,[1][2] the first child of the then Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima. Upon the public announcement of her birth, 101 salute shots were fired at four places in the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Den Helder and The Hague in the Netherlands, Willemstad in Curacao, and Oranjestad in Aruba.[3]

On 12 June 2004, Catharina-Amalia was baptised by the Rev. Carel ter Linden in the Great Church in The Hague. Her godparents are her uncle Prince Constantijn, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the (then) vice-president of the Council of State of the Netherlands Herman Tjeenk Willink, friend of her mother Samantha Deane, her uncle Martín Zorreguieta, and friend of her father Marc ter Haar.[4]

Catharina-Amalia's maternal grandparents, Jorge Zorreguieta and María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart, were prohibited from attending her parents' wedding in 2002 due to Zorreguieta's involvement in the regime of General Jorge Rafael Videla, but were present at her baptism, which was a private rather than a state affair.[5]

Early life and education

Princess Catharina-Amalia has two younger sisters: Princess Alexia (born in 2005) and Princess Ariane (born in 2007). She lives with her parents and one of her sisters in Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague.[6]

Starting in December 2007, Catharina-Amalia attended the public primary school Bloemcampschool in Wassenaar.[7] She attended the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet in The Hague, where her aunt Princess Laurentien attended.[8][9] She graduated in June 2021. Upon graduation, she announced that she would take a gap year and refused to accept her right to €1.6m a year in income for the time period, adding that it would make her "uncomfortable as long as I do not do anything for it in return".[10]

Her birthdays are traditionally celebrated with a concert at the Kloosterkerk in The Hague, which is attended by ambassadors and members of the royal household and the Council of State of the Netherlands.[11] She speaks Dutch, English, and Spanish.[12] Additionally, she took classes in the Mandarin Chinese language[13]

On her seventh birthday, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain once owned by her great-grandfather, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, was named after Catharina-Amalia by Peter Hartman. The princess herself was prevented from attending the naming ceremony owing to school obligations.[14]

Catharina-Amalia's paternal grandmother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated on 30 April 2013 and her father ascended the throne. Catharina-Amalia, as the new heir apparent, assumed the title of Princess of Orange, becoming the first to do so in her own right. Princess Catharina-Amalia assumed her seat in the Advisory Division of the Council of State of the Netherlands when she reached the age of majority at 18.[15]

In 2020, a new regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army, the Regiment Huzaren Prinses Catharina-Amalia, was named for Catharina-Amalia.[16]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles
  • 7 December 2003 – 30 April 2013: Her Royal Highness Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau[17]
  • 30 April 2013 – present: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Orange, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau[17]

Like her sisters, Catharina-Amalia was born a Princess of the Netherlands and a Princess of Orange-Nassau. As heir apparent she is also the Princess of Orange. This title is substantive and used without her name.[17]

Honours

Arms
Coat of arms of Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange
Notes
This coat of arms is used by the Princess of Orange and her sisters, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane.[19]
Escutcheon
Quarterly: I and IV azure billety or, a lion with coronet also or armed and langued gules, holding in his dexter paw a sword argent hilted or, and in his sinister seven arrows argent pointed and bound together or, which is of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; II and III or, a horn azure opened and bound gules, which is of the first House of Orange; an inescutcheon or bearing a castle of three towers gules flanked on each side by a poplar tree au naturel, and a river azure flowing from the base, ondoyant to the gate of the castle, which is of the house of Zorreguieta in Argentina.
Symbolism
The first and fourth quarters are the coat of arms of the Netherlands, based on the coat of arms of the House of Nassau.[19]
The second and third quarters are the coat of arms of the Prince of Orange.[19]
In the center is the coat of arms of the Zorreguieta family.[19]

Ancestry

Through her paternal grandfather, a member of the House of Amsberg, Catharina-Amalia is descended from families of the lower German nobility, and through her paternal grandmother, from several German royal families such as the House of Lippe, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the House of Orange-Nassau, Waldeck and Pyrmont, and the House of Hohenzollern. She is descended from the first King of the Netherlands, William I of the Netherlands, who was also a ruler in Luxembourg and several German states, and all subsequent Dutch monarchs.

On her mother's side, Catharina-Amalia is descended from wealthy Spanish Argentines and Italian Argentines, with some Basque ancestry.[20][21][22]

References
  1. "Newly-born Princess Catharina-Amalia second in line for Dutch throne".
  2. "Dutch celebrate royal baby birth". BBC News. 8 December 2004. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  3. A new government and Dutch troops go to Iraq Archived 4 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Museum of National History. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  4. Princess Catharina-Amalia, Dutch Royal House, 2013. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  5. "Joyful christening of Catharina-Amalia". www.helloonline.com.
  6. "Huis ten Bosch Palace". Royal House. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  7. "Princess Amalia to attend state school" (in Dutch). DutchNews. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  8. "Amalia gaat naar Sorghvliet-gymnasium" [Amalia goes to Sorghvliet Gymnasium]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 20 March 2015.
  9. "Prinses Amalia naar de middelbare school". NOS (in Dutch). 24 August 2015.
  10. Henley, Jon (11 June 2021). "Princess Amalia, heir to Dutch throne, waives right to yearly income". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  11. "Princess Amalia celebrates sixth birthday" (in Dutch). DutchNews. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  12. "The children of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  13. "European royals turning their hand to Mandarin". Fu Jing (China Daily Europe). 31 July 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  14. "Princess Amalia turns seven" (in Dutch). DutchNews. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  15. "Voorzitterschap Raad van State" (in Dutch). Royal House. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  16. "Bulletin of Acts and Decrees, 435". Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (in Dutch). 12 November 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  17. "Titels leden Koninklijke Familie". The Royal House. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  18. Royal House
  19. (in Dutch) Wapens van leden van het Koninklijk Huis, Dutch Royal House. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  20. Calvo, Lucio Ricardo Pérez (1 July 2018). Genealogías argentinas. L.R. Pérez Calvo. ISBN 9789874345547 – via Google Books.
  21. Guerrero, Gonzalo Alvarez; Ferrari, Soledad (1 April 2013). Máxima (Edición Actualizada): Una historia real. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina. ISBN 9789500742986 – via Google Books.
  22. "Ancestors of Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti". heinbruins.nl.
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