King Willem-Alexander is "proud" that Queen Máxima remained Roman-Catholic
King Willem-Alexander has no problem with the fact that his spouse Queen Máxima remained Roman-Catholic. He supports her in full. The King said that in an interview with Danish journalists in the run-up to the State Visit to Denmark which will take place next week.
The King remarked he would have found it "strange" if his spouse had to make a conversion. "I think it is quite worse when you convert to something you maybe do not believe in yourself. The conversion from Protestant to Roman-Catholic might not seem the greatest leap, but if you only do it just because you have to, you are not honest."
In the interview the King stressed the separation of Church and State in the Netherlands. "When my spouse decided to remain Roman-Catholic, that was no problem at all. Our Constitution also states that discrimination against people is not allowed. This applies to race, and gender, and religion. It is simply a natural and separate element in our lives."
In the interview the King stressed the difference between his position and that of his godmother Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. By law the Danish Sovereign must be a member of the
Folkekirke, the Lutheran State church in Denmark. "There is nothing in our Constitution about the religion of the King. It has been removed from the Constitution in 1815. It is true that the origins of the royal family are Protestant, but we do not have a State Church and therefore there is no reason to convert to Protestantism. We believe that religion is a private matter, which has no relation with the State." Before 2002 the then Prince of Orange informed that his eventual children would be raised in the Protestant Church but would "learn Roman-Catholic elements as well".
The words above are based on a article in
Billet-Bladet and were in various versions in the Dutch online media. The first Roman-Catholic in the Dutch royal family after WWII was Princess Armgard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld née Freiin von Sierstorpff-Cramm, the mother of the King's grandfather Prince Bernhard. Later the King's aunts Princess Irene and Princess Christina converted to Roman-Catholics. Their children ad furtherer offspring all are Roman-Catholic.
The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima in the Cathedral of the Saints Laurentius and Elisabeth in Rotterdam
The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima in the Cathedral of Saint Bavo in Haarlem
The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima at the Piazza San Pietro in Rome