Princess Christina of the Netherlands

Princess Christina of the Netherlands (Maria Christina; 18 February 1947 – 16 August 2019) was the youngest of four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld.

Early life

Princess Christina, known then as Princess Marijke (her first name in Dutch), was born on 18 February 1947, at Soestdijk Palace, Baarn Netherlands. Her mother was the then Princess Juliana, only child and heir presumptive of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. At the time of her birth, she was fifth in the line of succession to her grandmother, Queen Wilhelmina. Her father was Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, a son of Prince Bernhard of Lippe and his wife, Baroness Armgard von Cramm.

Christina had three older sisters: Princess Beatrix, Princess Irene and Princess Margriet.

At her baptism on 9 October 1947, her godparents included: Queen Wilhelmina (her maternal grandmother), her eldest sister Princess Beatrix, Winston Churchill(for whom her father stood proxy), her paternal grandmother Princess Armgard, Prince Felix of Luxembourg and his niece Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma.

On 4 September 1948, Christina's grandmother Queen Wilhelmina abdicated after a reign of nearly 58 years, in favour of Christina's mother, who was inaugurated as Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 6 September 1948.

Christina was a bright and happy child, with a considerable talent for music. She also had a capacity for languages and as a young girl delighted the visiting President of the French Republic, René Coty, by conversing fluently with him in French.

Like her sisters, Christina joined the Scouts as a young girl.

In 1963, Princess Marijke changed her name to her second name, Christina. Pursuing her gift for music, at age 21 she moved to Canada to study classical music in Montreal. After a few years, she accepted a teaching position at a Montessori school in New York City.

Health and death

During pregnancy, her mother had contracted rubella and as a result, Christina was born nearly blind. Over time, advances in medicine allowed for treatments that, with the aid of special glasses, brought about an improvement in her vision so that she could attend school and live a relatively normal life.

As Christina's eye treatments went on, Prince Bernhard introduced Princess Juliana to the faith healer Greet Hofmans, who came to have a great influence on Juliana, giving rise to the Dutch Royal Court crisis of 1948–1956.

In June 2018, it was announced that Princess Christina had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Christina died on the 16th of August 2019, aged 72.

Marriage

While living in New York, under the name Christina van Oranje, the Princess met and started a relationship with a Cuban exile named Jorge Pérez y Guillermo, himself a teacher for the Addie May Collins Shelter of Harlem and a former hotelier. Guillermo was born in Havana on 1 August 1946. He is the son of Federico Gilberto Pérez y Castillo and wife Edenia Mercedes Guillermo y Marrero, who died in Florida in 2002; his brother, Gilberto Pérez y Guillermo, was a film studies professor.

Although societal attitudes were changing, because Guillermo was a Roman Catholic, it was still possible that a marriage could cause a public scandal in the Netherlands such as the one that occurred in 1964 when Christina's sister Princess Irene married the Catholic Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma. Accordingly, Princess Christina, at that time ninth in line for the Dutch throne, renounced her and her descendants' rights to the throne before officially announcing her engagement on St. Valentine's Day, 1975. She converted to Catholicism in 1992.

The couple were married on 28 June 1975, civilly in Baarn and then religiously in an ecumenical ceremony in the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht. After their wedding, they lived in New York but later moved to the Netherlands, where they built Villa Eikenhorst in Wassenaar, near The Hague. The couple built up an extensive art collection.

Their children are:

• Bernardo
• Nicolás
• Juliana

Princess Christina divorced on 25 April 1996, and then returned with her children to live in the United States.

Later life

From the time of her mother's death, she had lived in London and in Monte Argentario, Italy.

She recorded several CDs and had a Music Foundation in the Netherlands. She sang at her parents’ funerals, and participated in a tribute concert that the CIMA Festival held in Italy for Queen Juliana, under the direction of Jorge Chaminé.

In 2019, Christina made news when she decided to sell several works of art. These works were in her possession through inheritance from the Dutch royal family. Institutes from the Netherlands, among others the Museum Boymans Van Beuningen, did not have enough funds to purchase the major item at the auction, a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens. The drawing was sold at Sotheby's for $8.2 million.

Titles, styles and honours

Styles of
Princess Christina of The Netherlands

Titles

• 18 February 1947 – 1963: Her Royal Highness Princess Maria Christina of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld
• 1963 – 2019: Her Royal Highness Princess Christina of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Honours See also: List of honours of the Dutch Royal Family by country National honours

•  Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the Silver Wedding Anniversary Medal of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the Wedding Medal of Princess Beatrix, Princess of Orange and Claus Van Amsberg
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the Queen Beatrix Inauguration Medal
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the Wedding Medal of Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Maxima Zorruigeta
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the King Willem-Alexander Inauguration Medal

Foreign honours

•  Luxembourg: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown
•  Nepalese Royal Family: Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Three Divine Powers