Father of Netherlands’ Queen Maxima dies in Argentina

Buenos Aires, August 9

Jorge Zorreguieta, the father of Argentina-born Maxima Zorreguieta, now queen of the Netherlands, has died of cancer in Buenos Aires. He was 89.

Queen Maxima, 46, the wife of King Willem-Alexander, was in Buenos Aires to be with her father as his condition worsened.

The funeral will be a private family event on Wednesday. The royal couple and three daughters will be there, a family statement said.

Zorreguieta was a businessman, influential in the country’s sugar industry and official in the government of Argentina’s final military regime, from 1976-1983, under Jorge Videla.

He always maintained that because he was a civilian, he was unaware of Dirty War atrocities taking place while he was a cabinet minister.

Because of Maxima’s father’s role in a dictatorial regime, the Dutch parliament suggested that his presence at the wedding of the royal couple would not be desirable. They were engaged in 2001 and wed the following year.

The queen’s mother chose not to attend without her husband.

Maxima has been queen consort since 2013, when Beatrix abdicated. — AFP