"Stay true to yourself" and enjoy your new job. That, in short, is the advice Princess Máxima would like to give to soon-to-be British princess Kate Middleton.
The Dutch princess says Kate should look on the bright side: marrying an heir to the throne also means landing a "lovely job".
As fiancé to Prince William, Kate Middleton is already the envy of millions of other women. And on 29 April, when she officially becomes a princess, she will be fulfilling many of their dreams: to marry the prince on a white horse. Something the Dutch Princess Máxima knows a little bit about.
Advice
Máxima Zorreguieta, daughter of an Argentinian deputy minister, became a Dutch princess when she married Crown Prince Willem-Alexander on 2 February 2002. She soon became one of the favourite members of the royal family among the Dutch population.
A BBC reporter asked her earlier this month whether she had any advice for Kate Middleton. Máxima’s simple answer was: “Stay true to yourself. It’s a lovely job. I really wish her the best”. And Máxima will be able to tell Kate herself when she congratulates the princely pair on 29 April.
Many Dutch people will recognise the irony in the princess’ words; when she got married to the Dutch crown prince ten years ago, she knew it meant the end of her career. Her new job partly consists of managing the royal household, which is sure to grow in size and importance when her husband ascends the throne.
The right choices
Filling her agenda with the right kind of invitations and events is also an important aspect of her job. For instance, today, 23 March 2011, she will attend a speech by Professor Atul Kumar, currently holding the Prince Claus chair at Utrecht University. Máxima is also the patroness of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Oranje Fonds – A fund which seeks to promote ‘social welfare and cohesion’, and the Boys and Girls Scouts of the Netherlands.
Micro-financing
The Dutch princess is the honorary chair of CentiQ, an organisation providing financial advice to young people. And she is an authority in the field of microfinancing, small loans to self-employed people under favourable conditions. She is the UN Secretary General’s ‘Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development'.
When Máxima gave her advice to Kate Middleton, she had just attended the official opening of WOMEN Inc., an organization seeking to empower women to independently make the most of their social careers.
True to yourself
So what conclusions is an aspiring princess to draw from the above? There is clearly more to life than running a court. Interesting work is important, but you only have so much time and everybody is watching your every move. So "be true to yourself" – make choices you believe in. And there’s always the next generation of princes and princesses to raise!
Maybe being a princess is more a ‘hell of a job’ than a ‘lovely job’?
(gsh/ae)
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To Jasmin. Mrs Maxima is not a commoner. Her father is a warcriminal and a financial criminal, as well as she. If Mrs Maxima means true to yourself, she is just doing that all the time. Being a selfish golddigger.
There is some interesting information, but the writer's comments are rather fatuous. I don't see any irony at all in Princess Maxima's remarks, and reading the sentence again, I have no idea what the writer is trying to say. And I have no idea how she thinks it's appropriate to conclude with "Maybe being a princess is more a ‘hell of a job’ than a ‘lovely job’?" I suspect she's just trying to be cute, also showing her knowledge of English slang. She fails in this regard and I find the remark totally gratuitous. In indulging in her cutesy comments she has spoiled a perfectly good article.
Princess Máxima is a wise princess! She is giving a good advice to Kate Middleton.The persons in their position do have the power to do something worthwhile for the people of this planet, besides the people of their own country.And being women, they should do as much as they can to bring dignity in an ordinary woman's life. They are both commoners, so they know how tough it is for a woman to make her own respectable identity in this male dominated society.
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