Eleven years. That is the age difference between Queen Máxima and her youngest brother Juan Zorreguieta. According to close friends in Argentina, Máxima has watched over the boy, affectionately called Juancito, from birth as a kind of mini-mother. So of course she glowed during his wedding in romantic Vienna in 2014. A moment she will probably remember regularly these days, surrounded by the grandeur of the Austrian capital.
Watch out for the princesses
In Austria, of course, the Oranges come more often, especially to ski in Lech and perhaps to visit Juan, who lives there, privately. But they haven’t been to Vienna, in any official capacity, since June 2014. Then Juan tied the knot with the Austrian Andrea Wolf. The two met three years earlier in Argentina and love took him to Europe. As a result, Juan came to live a lot closer to his sister in one fell swoop.
This was taken advantage of. Not only did Juan and Andrea come to the Netherlands regularly, they also joined ski holidays in Lech. In 2013, for example, when they even pretended to be a nanny for Amalia, Alexia, Ariane and Luana and Zaria, the daughters of Prince Friso and his wife Mabel, who died in August 2013.
Similar paths
According to acquaintances, the bond between Máxima and Juan is still close. Of course it doesn’t have to be that way between a sister and brother with so much age difference, but the two followed similar paths. As far as you can speak of a similar path with a sister becoming queen.
They both studied at the Universidad Católica Argentina, both went to work in finance, and both moved to another continent for love, far from the rest of their family. That creates a bond.
Side by side with royals
In the Netherlands we saw Juan pop up a few times. In 2018 he attended Prinsjesdag with his mother Maria del Carmen. We also saw him, of course, at his sister’s wedding, twelve years before his own fairytale day in Vienna. And at the baptism of Amalia, Alexia and Ariane. He is even godfather to Alexia, which means that at the age of 23 he came to stand side by side with (then) Princess Mathilde of Belgium.
Conversely, his nieces also play a nice role in Uncle Juan’s life. All three were bridesmaids there in Vienna, then 10, 8 and 7 years old. That trip, the A’s also visited Hofburg Palace with their parents, where the Oranges report again today during their state visit.
nostalgic fashion
Tonight there will be a large state banquet in Vienna, at which Máxima will of course appear in a beautiful dress and tiara. We won’t know what the Queen has packed for that until she gets out of the car at Schloss Belvedere tonight.
But given her love for nostalgic fashion, it just might be the Jan Taminiau she also wore to her beloved brother’s yes, and whom we’ve only been able to admire once since, in 2017.
It would make the evening in the already romantic Vienna all the more beautiful.