The life of Máxima Zorreguieta changed overnight on August 31, 1999. That Tuesday we found out in the Netherlands the identity of the girlfriend of our crown prince. From then on, the press gathered in front of her New York apartment. And that day she decided that it was really time to learn the Dutch language well.
“Why is your hair wet?”
Exactly one day later, call her a go-getter, Máxima reported to Hanny Veenendaal, a Dutch teacher who also lived in New York. Whether she could start classes immediately. Veenendaal would eventually publish her diaries from that period in the AD†
Many salients did not come out, but they did give an insight into how Máxima had to get used to her new family. After a family trip to India around New Year’s Eve 1999, Máxima told her: “The Dutch are quite critical, I was held up to the light as a newcomer. Everyone got the stomach flu and I got carsick. My hair dryer also broke. When I plugged it in, it blew up. The voltage was too high. The Queen kept asking, ‘Why is your hair wet?’”
First Dutch interview with Máxima
When Máxima moved to Brussels to be closer to Willem-Alexander, she booked a thorough two-week crash course at an institute in Fontainebleau, France, where she worked on her vocabulary among diplomats. For her future, of course, but especially with a view to one moment: her first Dutch interview.
She asked for understanding for her ‘very possible mistakes’ and set off. “I never expected to speak in Dutch here one day.” Understandable, but we were impressed then and now by how she did it.
Always with a dictionary under your arm
Ultimately, Máxima only really learned the language while living in the Netherlands, thanks to programs such as lingo† youth news and Clock house† “Every day I read one or two articles and only listened to Dutch television,” she later said to a group that was also trying to learn the Dutch language. “And I always walked with a dictionary under my arm.”
Music also lent a hand, she shared with Nikkie de Jager during a visit to the Song Contest. “First with nursery rhymes to learn to recognize words. There is a lot of repetition in music. Then you will also remember it much easier. I listened to as much Dutch music as possible. One of the first songs that taught me the language is 15 million people†
en Espanol
But Spanish will also always play an important role in her life. That’s how she spoke and still speaks it to her parents, family and Argentine friends. And also as much as possible with her daughters: Máxima was born on many King’s Day en Espanol heard by bystanders. A speech to the United Nations in Spanish? no hay problema† If she gets the chance to do a Spanish-language interview, she takes it.
And in Argentina and other Spanish-speaking countries they are naturally also curious about ‘their’ Dutch queen. As a result, Máxima sometimes gets another native speaker in front of her nose.
Máxima also speaks fluent Dutch and English and a nice word of French and German. But your mother tongue will always be your first love. And you hear that.