- Joined
- Aug 13, 2004
- Messages
- 27,232
- City
- São Paulo
- Country
- Brazil
On the occassion of the porcelein marriage of the King and Queen BNNVARA is broadcasting a 4-part documentary about the lead-up to the wedding.
The makers call it a 'political thriller' and a 'chess game'. It shows the political and diplomatic process before the wedding step by step.
Some tidbits:
- In August 1999 -only a few months after the two met in Seville- a report was made by the intelligence service about Máxima's father.
- On September 1st the Prime Minister Wim Kok was informed about the relationship.
- In September the PM discovers that there is a report. He angrily calls the Interior minister, Bram Peper. Peper should have informed the PM about the matter. However, Peper claims that he did not give an order for this investigation. So if neither the minister of Interior affairs nor the PM ordered it, who did? The royal house/ Queen? The Intelligence service acted on its own initiative?
- All alarm bells go off when it is clear Mr. Zorreguieta was part of the Videla dictatorship. Some describe it as 'panic'. It was clear tot he PM that a constitutional crisis would be an option as the prince had been clear several in an interview several years ago that he would chose love over throne.
- The PM's tactic at first was to give the country time to get used to the idea and let ministers and politicians of the government parties downplay the issue.
- This did not work when several public voices got involved. Among them the daily talk show Barend & van Dorp and former ambassador Maarten Mourik. What made matters even more complicated for the PM was that the loudest voices came from people affiliated with his own party.
- It is clear to the prime minister that a sacrifice must be made for the political class & public to accept this wedding, esp. as more and more details became known and images of shown of Zorreguieta next to Videla in a car during a parade.
- From Argentina Mr. Zorreguieta is in touch with a Dutch journalist and tries to convince him that he knew nothing. The line was: it was all very wrong what happened but I did not know. If the veneer would be scratched Mr. Zorreguieta would say things like 'they were no victims but terrorists'... Not something that would be acceptable to the Dutch government or public.
- To get all the facts in order the PM orders an investigation by Prof. Dr. Michiel baron Baud and asks minister of state Max van der Stoel to help. [Side note: Baud is the grandson of Mr. Jean Chrétien baron Baud, chamberlain of Q. Wilhelmina and private secretary of Queen Juliana).
- There were several tense meetings between the PM and the young couple or the PM, the prince and the Queen.
- Private notes of Max van der Stoel of a meeting on January 15th were shown. He talked about an emotional/angry prince, who does not yet realise what is going on. The notes mention that Queen Beatrix was shocked to hear that the presence of Mr. Z. would be unacceptable to the government, quickly realising the implications. WA wanted to go to Argentina to ask for the hand of Máxima. Something neither the PM nor Queen Beatrix think is a good idea.
- Four days later WA proposes to Máxima in The Hague. It adds (time) pressure on the process. As did Máxima's attendence of Queen Beatrix' birthday festivities a week later. Clearly things need to be resolved soon.
- Van der Stoel and the PM had to convince Queen Beatrix, the young couple and Mr. Z. that him staying away was the best option. Several meetings in the Catshuis between Van der Stoel and the couple were needed, where Máxima was emotional and often cried.
- Max van der Stoel, prof. Baud and a high ranking civil servant meet Z. and his wife in a hotel in New York. Z is charming but he does not agree with the conclusions of the report. Neither does he understand why the matter is sensitive in The Netherlands. He is worried about his social position in Argentina when he will agree not to attend the wedding. Privately he tells the Dutch journalist that the true story is not known in The Netherlands and that baron Baud is a communist.
- Some time later he is convinced to write a declaration. Translated into English by Máxima. Van der Stoel's copy is shown, with his corrections of Máxima's grammar and the highlighted parts which he found problematic.
- It led to a new meeting in São Paulo between Van der Stoel, the couple and Zorreguieta. The declaration was changed and it made it very clear that Mr. Z. would not attend the wedding 'by his own decision'. The son of Van der Stoel noted that the couple went back to the Netherlands by direct plane. But to avoid suspicion the 79 y/o Van der Stoel had to take a different flight & scale in Paris.
- At the same time a problem arose with a ruling of the court about a different issue. A few months earlier, the Amsterdam court ruled that president Desi Bouterse should be prosecuted for his part in the December murders in Suriname in 1982. The ruling was copied by lawyers by Van Mourik, who used the same argumentation to prosecute Zorreguieta in a Dutch court for crimes against humanity.
The head of the Public Prosecution Office, Jhr. Joan de Wijkerslooth de Weerdestein decided to submit a request to annul the decision to prosecute Bouterse a few days before the engagement was announced. It is suggested that he did so to protect the RF, though it is noted that the official reasoning was that the office did not think it would have the ability or capacity to prosecute all sorts of foreign criminals and dictators for crimes commited abroad, not involving Dutch citizens.
- In March the engagement was announced and a constitutional crisis was averted. It was highlighted that Mr. Z. chose not to attend the wedding. Both by the Prince of Orange and by the PM. This was nonsense. Mr. Z. told a Dutch journalist in private that he was not allowed to speak, neither was he allowed to attend.
---
Interviews with victims of the regime are followed by comments of WA and Máxima during their engagement interview. They seem naive at best. They follow the line of Mr. Z: it was all very terrible but he did not know what was going on. The official report by Prof. Baud was 'an opinion'. But this was not picked up by the media at the time, people were glad the saga came to an end and that there was a fairytale wedding on its way. Politicians highlighted that Máxima distanced herself from the Videla regime in strong words, that a daughter could not be blamed for the sins of the father etc.
The naivité of the couple is perhaps most painful when they show a clip of Mr. Z. attending [his only] public hearing in Argentina shortly after the wedding. It is about the disappearance of the daughter of a predecessor as underminister of Agriculture. The predecessor - Alberto Amigo - desperately asked Z -once according to Z.- for help, when Amigo's daughter Lidia is arrested and disappeared. A journalist notes that officials were approached by desperate parents all the time, as is stated by Z's other predecessor Mario Mandariaga. It is followed by a clip of the pre-wedding interview of the couple, where they say that Mr. Z. had no reason to lie and that both of them believed him. Lidia Amigo was never found.
---
The RF did not cooperate with the programme. Relations, friends and acquentences did not either, Neither did civil servants and obviously intelligence officers. Newspaper Trouw writes that with this silence the royal couple did not do themselves a favor.
https://www.npostart.nl/een-porseleinen-huwelijk/BV_101407116
https://www.bnnvara.nl/artikelen/een-porseleinen-huwelijk
The makers call it a 'political thriller' and a 'chess game'. It shows the political and diplomatic process before the wedding step by step.
Some tidbits:
- In August 1999 -only a few months after the two met in Seville- a report was made by the intelligence service about Máxima's father.
- On September 1st the Prime Minister Wim Kok was informed about the relationship.
- In September the PM discovers that there is a report. He angrily calls the Interior minister, Bram Peper. Peper should have informed the PM about the matter. However, Peper claims that he did not give an order for this investigation. So if neither the minister of Interior affairs nor the PM ordered it, who did? The royal house/ Queen? The Intelligence service acted on its own initiative?
- All alarm bells go off when it is clear Mr. Zorreguieta was part of the Videla dictatorship. Some describe it as 'panic'. It was clear tot he PM that a constitutional crisis would be an option as the prince had been clear several in an interview several years ago that he would chose love over throne.
- The PM's tactic at first was to give the country time to get used to the idea and let ministers and politicians of the government parties downplay the issue.
- This did not work when several public voices got involved. Among them the daily talk show Barend & van Dorp and former ambassador Maarten Mourik. What made matters even more complicated for the PM was that the loudest voices came from people affiliated with his own party.
- It is clear to the prime minister that a sacrifice must be made for the political class & public to accept this wedding, esp. as more and more details became known and images of shown of Zorreguieta next to Videla in a car during a parade.
- From Argentina Mr. Zorreguieta is in touch with a Dutch journalist and tries to convince him that he knew nothing. The line was: it was all very wrong what happened but I did not know. If the veneer would be scratched Mr. Zorreguieta would say things like 'they were no victims but terrorists'... Not something that would be acceptable to the Dutch government or public.
- To get all the facts in order the PM orders an investigation by Prof. Dr. Michiel baron Baud and asks minister of state Max van der Stoel to help. [Side note: Baud is the grandson of Mr. Jean Chrétien baron Baud, chamberlain of Q. Wilhelmina and private secretary of Queen Juliana).
- There were several tense meetings between the PM and the young couple or the PM, the prince and the Queen.
- Private notes of Max van der Stoel of a meeting on January 15th were shown. He talked about an emotional/angry prince, who does not yet realise what is going on. The notes mention that Queen Beatrix was shocked to hear that the presence of Mr. Z. would be unacceptable to the government, quickly realising the implications. WA wanted to go to Argentina to ask for the hand of Máxima. Something neither the PM nor Queen Beatrix think is a good idea.
- Four days later WA proposes to Máxima in The Hague. It adds (time) pressure on the process. As did Máxima's attendence of Queen Beatrix' birthday festivities a week later. Clearly things need to be resolved soon.
- Van der Stoel and the PM had to convince Queen Beatrix, the young couple and Mr. Z. that him staying away was the best option. Several meetings in the Catshuis between Van der Stoel and the couple were needed, where Máxima was emotional and often cried.
- Max van der Stoel, prof. Baud and a high ranking civil servant meet Z. and his wife in a hotel in New York. Z is charming but he does not agree with the conclusions of the report. Neither does he understand why the matter is sensitive in The Netherlands. He is worried about his social position in Argentina when he will agree not to attend the wedding. Privately he tells the Dutch journalist that the true story is not known in The Netherlands and that baron Baud is a communist.
- Some time later he is convinced to write a declaration. Translated into English by Máxima. Van der Stoel's copy is shown, with his corrections of Máxima's grammar and the highlighted parts which he found problematic.
- It led to a new meeting in São Paulo between Van der Stoel, the couple and Zorreguieta. The declaration was changed and it made it very clear that Mr. Z. would not attend the wedding 'by his own decision'. The son of Van der Stoel noted that the couple went back to the Netherlands by direct plane. But to avoid suspicion the 79 y/o Van der Stoel had to take a different flight & scale in Paris.
- At the same time a problem arose with a ruling of the court about a different issue. A few months earlier, the Amsterdam court ruled that president Desi Bouterse should be prosecuted for his part in the December murders in Suriname in 1982. The ruling was copied by lawyers by Van Mourik, who used the same argumentation to prosecute Zorreguieta in a Dutch court for crimes against humanity.
The head of the Public Prosecution Office, Jhr. Joan de Wijkerslooth de Weerdestein decided to submit a request to annul the decision to prosecute Bouterse a few days before the engagement was announced. It is suggested that he did so to protect the RF, though it is noted that the official reasoning was that the office did not think it would have the ability or capacity to prosecute all sorts of foreign criminals and dictators for crimes commited abroad, not involving Dutch citizens.
- In March the engagement was announced and a constitutional crisis was averted. It was highlighted that Mr. Z. chose not to attend the wedding. Both by the Prince of Orange and by the PM. This was nonsense. Mr. Z. told a Dutch journalist in private that he was not allowed to speak, neither was he allowed to attend.
---
Interviews with victims of the regime are followed by comments of WA and Máxima during their engagement interview. They seem naive at best. They follow the line of Mr. Z: it was all very terrible but he did not know what was going on. The official report by Prof. Baud was 'an opinion'. But this was not picked up by the media at the time, people were glad the saga came to an end and that there was a fairytale wedding on its way. Politicians highlighted that Máxima distanced herself from the Videla regime in strong words, that a daughter could not be blamed for the sins of the father etc.
The naivité of the couple is perhaps most painful when they show a clip of Mr. Z. attending [his only] public hearing in Argentina shortly after the wedding. It is about the disappearance of the daughter of a predecessor as underminister of Agriculture. The predecessor - Alberto Amigo - desperately asked Z -once according to Z.- for help, when Amigo's daughter Lidia is arrested and disappeared. A journalist notes that officials were approached by desperate parents all the time, as is stated by Z's other predecessor Mario Mandariaga. It is followed by a clip of the pre-wedding interview of the couple, where they say that Mr. Z. had no reason to lie and that both of them believed him. Lidia Amigo was never found.
---
The RF did not cooperate with the programme. Relations, friends and acquentences did not either, Neither did civil servants and obviously intelligence officers. Newspaper Trouw writes that with this silence the royal couple did not do themselves a favor.
https://www.npostart.nl/een-porseleinen-huwelijk/BV_101407116
https://www.bnnvara.nl/artikelen/een-porseleinen-huwelijk
Last edited:
