In fact, she had wanted and was allowed to make her debut a year earlier, as the crown prince’s new fiancé.
Máxima’s very first Queen’s Day
Máxima even had an outfit made at the time. But unfortunately: Queen’s Day 2001 was canceled due to the (remember this…) foot-and-mouth disease crisis. So it was 2002, just after their fairytale wedding, that Máxima finally experienced her very first Queen’s Day. Along with another royal newcomer.
Laurentien was pregnant at the time
It was probably still nerve-wracking, such a first trip through two Dutch cities with a delegation of the royal family. Even after the bright spotlights that shone on Máxima in February as a bride. But in Princess Laurentien she had a special companion by her side: it was also her first Queen’s Day. And Laurentien also had to believe it completely with a pregnant belly. In early June 2002, Countess Eloise was born.
In Hoogeveen and Meppel, places of action in 2002, the whole family and the entire country talked about babies: Laurentien was not the only pregnant woman who walked through drizzly Drenthe. Princess Marilène was also pregnant. Princess Annette and Prince Bernhard Jr. were not there, they were so close to the due date of their first child. And although Máxima would only be pregnant on Queen’s Day 2003 (although the people and homeland knew nothing about it at the time), the gathered fans along the route seemed ready for a new heir to the throne. ‘Willem and Máxima, when will Trixie be grandma?’, was read on a banner. Fortunately, the newlyweds also had a good laugh about it.
Well off the starting blocks on the very first Queen’s Day
Willem-Alexander was of course already used to a lot, in terms of Queen’s Day. He had his first edition in 1968 as a boy of just one. He attended the parade at Soestdijk Palace for years to come. It was not until 1981, after Beatrix became queen, that the royal family moved into the country to celebrate the holiday.
And well, for something like this you naturally want to get off to a good start as a new-fangled princess. Máxima did that on her very first Queen’s Day in light yellow, very much Jackie Kennedy, from Edouard Vermeulen of NATAN. It was not her first NATAN, she was already spotted in 2001. She had met the couturier before her engagement in Brussels, at a vernissage.
Fashionable dream team
It turned out to be love at first sight. The same also applied to Máxima and the also Belgian hat maker Fabienne Delvigne, probably introduced to Máxima by Princess Mathilde of Belgium, who was already a fan. On Queen’s Day 2002, Máxima wore her very first relevé (a hat with one turned up and one turned down brim) by Delvigne. It would later become a regular fixture, on King’s Day and beyond. NATAN would never leave the field either. It dream team was already born then.
What was different that first Queen’s Day was Máxima’s predilection for jewellery. We saw her in 2002 with fairly simple gold earrings and little bracelet splendor, nowadays she eagerly makes use of the royal jewelery safe. Call it the perks of the queen box.
We can’t wait to see what she pulls out of closet and vault this year. We’ll know around eleven o’clock on Wednesday morning.
