Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

Catharina-Amalia
Princess of Orange
Catharina-Amalia in 2023
Born (2003-12-07) 7 December 2003 (age 20)
The Hague, Netherlands
Names
Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria
HouseOrange-Nassau (official)
Amsberg (agnatic)
FatherWillem-Alexander of the Netherlands
MotherMáxima Zorreguieta

Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (Dutch pronunciation: [kɑtaːˈrinaː aːˈmaːliaː]) (Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria; born 7 December 2003) is the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten.

Catharina-Amalia is the eldest child of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. She has two younger sisters, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane. She became heir apparent when her father ascended the throne on 30 April 2013.

Early life

Princess Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria of the Netherlands was born at 17:01 CET on 7 December 2003 in the HMC Bronovo in The Hague, the first child of the then Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (now king) 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 Curaçao, and Oranjestad in Aruba.

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, her mother's friend Samantha Deane, her uncle Martín Zorreguieta, and her father's friend Marc ter Haar. 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.

Princess Catharina-Amalia has two younger sisters: Princess Alexia (born in 2005) and Princess Ariane (born in 2007). The family spent the princess' formative years at Villa Eikenhorst on the De Horsten estate in Wassenaar. In 2019 they moved to Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.

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. Catharina-Amalia's paternal grandmother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated on 30April 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.

Education

In December 2007, Catharina-Amalia started attending Bloemcamp Primary School, a public primary school in Wassenaar. After graduating from primary school, she attended the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet in The Hague, where her aunt Princess Laurentien attended. She participated in the student council and attended both the Model United Nations of the International School of The Hague and The Hague International Model United Nations conferences. She graduated in 2021 with distinction. After completing her studies at Sorghvliet, Catharina-Amalia took a gap year, during which she interned at the Orange Fund and volunteered at other organisations. In June 2021, she announced that she 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".

Since 5 September 2022 Catharina-Amalia is studying at the University of Amsterdam for a BSc degree in Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics (PPLE). During her second month in university, she was moved back to the royal palace from her student housing in Amsterdam due to security risks.

Catharina-Amalia speaks Dutch, English, and Spanish. Additionally, she took classes in Mandarin Chinese.

Public life

Catharina-Amalia with her sisters attended the annual Koningsdag. On 19 June 2010, Catharina-Amalia served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling. On the occasion of her 18th birthday in 2021, a biography of Catharina-Amalia was published. Similar books were published on the 18th birthday of Princess Beatrix in 1956 and Prince Willem-Alexander in 1985. The book titled "Amalia" is written by Dutch entertainer Claudia de Breij. On 8 December 2021, Catharina-Amalia assumed her seat in the Advisory Division of the Council of State when she reached the age of majority at 18 the day before. On the same day, she gave her first public speech at the Council of State meeting in Kneuterdijk Palace. An outdoor birthday party thrown by her family to mark the occasion was found to be in breach of regulations and restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made her father admit that "it was not right to organize this".

On 17 June 2022, together with her parents, she was among the royal guests invited to the celebrations of the 18th birthday of Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway. This was Catharina-Amalia's first public engagement outside of The Netherlands and the first occasion to which she was allowed to wear a tiara. On 20 September 2022, together with her parents, Catharina-Amalia attended Prinsjesdag, where the King addressed a joint session of the States General of the Netherlands to outline government policy for the upcoming parliamentary session. In November 2022, Catharina-Amalia and her family visited an exhibition at Nieuwe Kerk dedicated to former Queen Juliana. In December 2022, she visited the three branches of Dutch military: Air Force, Army and Navy.

In January and February 2023, Catharina-Amalia went on a tour of the Dutch Caribbean with her parents. They visited Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. It was her first official royal tour. In April 2023, Catharina-Amalia and her sister Princess Ariane attended King's Day concert in Rotterdam. On 5 May 2023, she accompanied her grandmother to a reception held at Buckingham Palace the evening before the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom. In June 2023, she and her parents attended a state banquet honoring the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Rajwa Al Saif.

Catharina-Amalia has experienced repeated fat shaming by tabloids and on social media since she was young, most notably by the Portuguese celebrity magazine Caras labeling her as plus size. In response to the body shaming members of the public have expressed their support for the princess, calling the fat shaming against her unacceptable.

Eponym

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

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Catharina Amalia's Monogram

Titles

Catharina-Amalia has been Princess of the Netherlands and Princess of Orange-Nassau since birth. Until her father's accession, she was therefore styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau". On 30 April 2013, she additionally assumed the substantive title Princess of Orange. She has since been known as "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau".

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.
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.
Banner
As Princess, Catharina-Amalia uses a swallow-tailed flag, with the Royal standard colours and her paternal arms (the horn of Orange) in the upper hoist and her maternal arms (the tower of Zorreguieta) in the lower hoist. The arms of the Netherlands (which originates from Nassau) without the insignia of the Order of Willem within an orange circle.
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.
The second and third quarters are the coat of arms of the Prince of Orange.
In the center is the coat of arms of the Zorreguieta family.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-03-24 16:04 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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