Dutch Prince to Take Argentine Bride
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced the engagement of her son Crown Prince Willem-Alexander to an Argentine woman Friday. But the bride’s father--once a top official in an Argentine dictatorship--won’t be at the wedding.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the engagement” of the 33-year-old prince to Maxima Zorreguieta, the queen said in a rare nationally televised address.
Her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, served as agriculture minister for two years during the 1976-83 dictatorship of President Jorge Videla. At least 9,000 people disappeared in the junta’s military crackdown on left-wing opponents and dissidents, according to U.N. reports.
Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok said Zorreguieta decided that he won’t attend the wedding ceremony after the premier explained “what was best for his daughter’s future.”
Kok said Zorreguieta’s activities were “limited” during “a dark period” in Argentina’s history.
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