Biography of Princess Máxima: ‘Bridget Jones Revisited’

Almost a year ago it was announced that two Argentinian journalists, Gonzalo Alvarez Guerrero and Soledad Ferrari, promised a ‘revealing book abour princess Máxima of The Netherlands. They promissed to give new facts about the years that princess Máxima still lived in Argentina, about her childhood and about her love life. The princess herself didn’t seem too nervous about it: ‘My life is an open book’, she commented. Her husband even said he was looking forward to the book, as were many others, especially the members of the press because since the princess arrived in The Netherlands she came, saw and conquered, as the Romans said. Or as it was less eloquently put by Revu journalist Frank van der Linden: “Máxima is like a TEFAL pan, all dirt just slides of.”

Last weekend the members of the press however were able to see an extract of the book and the Dutch press was unanimous in their disappointment. The largest newspaper of the country called the book ‘Bridget Jones revisited’ and dedicated their entire page 3 to a very negative review of the book. Another newspaper called the book ‘a festival of errors’ and GDP’s royalblog already listed 50 factual mistakes by the authors, as well as various other errors. Alex de Vries, the journalist who was supposed to revceive the first edition of the book in Buenos Aires on April 1st, even cancelled his flight to Argentina.

The authors did not have an easy task perhaps, nobody in Máxima’s circle of family or friends were willing to talk to the authors, so in the end the authors had to talk to people who were less close to the princess like former school collegues. Still, not all mistakes can be attributed to that, the authors seldom name the sources and make a lot of mistakes that are just plain sloppy. They for example say that prince Friso, second son of queen Beatrix, abdicated the throne and fled to London. The prince however never abdiated a throne he did not occupy in the first place and was already living in London before the troubles about his wife Mabel Wisse-Smit arose. The most remarkable ‘revelation’ of the book seemed to be that princess Máxima’s resume said that she worked for the Argentinian Mercado Abierto Bank in 1989 and 1990 while the authors claim she worked there in 1991 and 1993, under a CEO that was later trialed for corruption. The bank however says the authors are talking nonsense and that Máxima only worked for them in 1989/1990 for a few months.

Seldom has a book about a member of the royal family been so unimously condamned by the Dutch press, a factor here might have been that the Argentinian journalists were unknown here and the Dutch press assumed they were competent and came up with a reliable book. However the biography that was presented seems more approriate for the gossip magazines, though even some editors of those labelled the book as unreliable!

More information about the book can be found in this thread.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Biography, Books, Media, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.

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