by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2013
Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia
Her Royal Highness Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau was born December 7, 2003, at the Bronovo Hospital in The Hague, Netherlands, the eldest daughter of then Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti. At birth, she was second in line to the Dutch throne.
On June 12, 2004, Catharina-Amalia was baptized by Reverend Carel ter Linden in the Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk in The Hague. She was given the names Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria, but she is known as Amalia.
- Catherina: possibly for Henriette Catharina, daughter of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange and for Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, mother of Queen Sophie, first wife of King Willem III
- Amalia: possibly for Amalia van Solms, wife of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange and for Amalia of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, the first wife of Prince Hendrik, brother of King Willem III
- Beatrix: for her paternal grandmother Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- Carmen: for her maternal grandmother María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart
- Victoria: for her godmother Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
Her godparents were:
- Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, her paternal uncle
- Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
- Herman Tjeenk Willink, Vice-President of the Council of State of the Netherlands
- Samantha Deane, her mother’s friend
- Martín Zorreguieta, her maternal uncle
- Marc ter Haar, her father’s friend
Amalia’s family in 2022: Queen Máxima, King Willem-Alexander, Princess Ariane, Princess Amalia, and Princess Alexia
Amalia has two younger sisters:
- Princess Alexia (born 2005)
- Princess Ariane (born 2007)
Princess Amalia attended the Bloemcampschool in Wassenaar, near the family’s home at Villa Eikenhorst. In the fall of 2015, Amalia started to attend Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet, an independent Protestant school in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her parents made a list of several schools in The Hague and left the decision up to Amalia, who visited the schools before she made up her mind. In June 2021, Amalia graduated with distinction from Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet.
At the time of her graduation, Amalia sent a handwritten letter to Prime Minister Rutte stating that she did not want to take her allowance until she had proper royal duties. At the age of eighteen, Amalia would be entitled to €1.6m (£1.4m) a year in income and personal and household expenses. In the letter, the princess wrote: “On 7 December 2021 I will be 18 and, according to the law, receive an allowance. I find that uncomfortable as long as I do not do anything for it in return, and while other students have a much tougher time of it, particularly in this period of coronavirus.” Amalia said she intended to take a gap year and then begin her undergraduate studies. She spent her gap year in an internship at the Orange Fund and volunteered at other organizations.
On December 8, 2021, the day after her 18th birthday, when she reached the age of majority, Amalia assumed her seat in the Advisory Division of the Council of State. On the same day, she gave her first public speech at the Council of State meeting in Kneuterdijk Palace.
In September 2022, Princess Amalia began her studies to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Politics, Psychology, Law, and Economics at the University of Amsterdam. She applied for the degree and went through the same testing and application process as any other student.
During her second month at the University of Amsterdam, Amalia, who was living on campus, moved back to the royal palace due to security risks. In April 2024, King Willem-Alexander revealed that Amalia lived in Madrid, Spain in 2023 under the protection of the Spanish monarchy while she continued her studies online because of threats to kidnap her from the Moroccan mafia, a drug trafficking criminal organization.
The Dutch royal family on the day of Queen Beatrix’s abdication; Source: Dutch Royal House © RVD; photo: Jeroen van der Meyde
On April 30, 2013, her grandmother, Queen Beatrix abdicated the Dutch throne. Amalia’s father became King Willem-Alexander, and the young princess became heir-apparent to the Dutch throne, becoming Princess of Orange in her own right. The Netherlands changed its succession law in 1983 to absolute primogeniture where the succession passes to the eldest child of the sovereign regardless of gender. Males and females have equal succession rights. This means that Amalia is the heir apparent and comes first in the line of succession as the eldest child. Following Catharina-Amalia in the line of succession are her two sisters in order of their birth. Even if King Willem-Alexander had a son, born after his three daughters, the succession would remain the same and the brother would follow his three elder sisters in the line of succession.
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