At the 17 years of the most unexpected wedding: Máxima and Guillermo de Holanda, kings and symbol of a new air on the thrones

Argentina, 28, senior manager of a bank, dances and applause at the Fair of Seville, April 1999, in the spring, disguised as a gypsy and sings, sees and likes, although she is chubby, to red hair and freckles – she prefers morochos – and better than he dances a telephone pole.

Something intrigue: she has bodyguards …

"It's Prince William, the heir to the throne of Holland," whispered a friend..

In a moment of rejoicing, they are embraced and ready to dance. A waltz sounds: the most appropriate for someone who is not Fred Astaire …

And this waltz becomes endless.

They know well King Guillermo and Máxima (Zorreguieta) reign in Holland, at the house of Orange.

Among other things, because these crowned heads are just human …

Already in love, as a couple, it's time to jump through the circle of fire: first meeting with Máxima-Reina Beatriz, mother of Guillermo.

De Guillermo, who will never forget the magical spark of this "head-to-head":

-When he saw her, my mother smiled: something that he has not done since time immemorial, he says to his friends.

Despite everything, Máxima had to defeat other circles of fire: to learn Dutch, despite his very good English and French, and his level of German. Explore the history of the country, from the cultivation of tulips to the maturing of cheeses, to the obsession of the huge Rembrandt for his infinite self-portraits.

And if only a little, enchant people. The worker, the employee, the craftsman, the fisherman, the smuggler of the cbads and the tens of thousands of cyclists …

He did it, and more: they loved it!

And the adjectives have multiplied in the mouth, in the press and even in the most rigid palatial characters: "Fresh, glamorous, graceful, easy-going, respectful of the protocols, omnipresent in front of diplomats, surprisingly simple and never pretending . "

William of Orange-Nbadau, nobleman of his first baby cry, and Maxima Zorreguieta, plebeian according to the royal canons, they were husband and wife on February 2, 2002: today, at 17, the king for the abdication of his mother in 2013, and the queen consorte her …, and three beautiful girls: Catalina Amalia, Alexia and Ariana.

Sunny day: rare in Amsterdan in February. Eighty thousand souls in front of the palace waiting for the departure of the couple to the Bourse van Berlange – the Stock Exchange – in a black Rolls Royce, for the civil union.

Between this process and the religious rite, Máxima spoke to her parents, Jorge Zorreguieta and María del Carmen Cerutiwho were in London. His mother traveled to be at the ceremony. His father could not attend the marriage, by decision of the Dutch Parliament, to a complaint from human rights organizations, for having occupied the post of Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock from 1979 to 1981, during the government of the dictatorship in Argentina.

Not far from there, in a badtail more than exclusive, a hundred crowned heads – the guests – waited for the last act.

Names? All Sofia of Spain and Prince Felipe of Asturias. The kings Carlos XVI Gustavo and Silvia of Sweden. The great dukes Enrique and Maria Teresa of Luxemburgo. Princes Haakon Magnus and Mette Marit of Norway. Princes Ernesto of Hanover and Carolina of Monaco: for the samples, there were many buttons …

At noon, they entered the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) of Amsterdam, of the fifteenth century, on the Dam Square, next to the Royal Palace.: the other was too small to contain as much.

(For fashion fans: Valentino required three months of work. Empire size. White silk. Long fitted sleeves. Round neckline and smooth body, no frills, except for two embroidered lace applications on both sides of the skirt. Silk tulle veil with floral embroidery made by hand. Jewelry ?: a tiara of the orange house of Sofia of Württemberg, first wife of King William III, a diamond bracelet, and teardrop-shaped diamond earrings used by Queen Beatrix at her wedding).

Before the crossing of the rings, Pastor Ter Linder, in collaboration with the Argentine priest Rafael Braun (who translated the words of the ancient Spanish), used the questions of the book of Ruth of the Holy Scriptures for: remind the couple of their doubts.

A Máxima, he had to make that decision: to live in a country, a city, a culture, a different history, a different people, and he had heard voices asking him to return to his native country.

For Guillermo, he had the right to ask Máxima for all that …

Then, sitting on the same silk cushions that a century before (1901) used Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry, waited a moment, took a few steps towards the altar, and they slipped the short and eternal words:

-Yes I want.
-Yes I want.

That was what Máxima wanted to hear. What he asked What to tear off subtle dried tears with a handkerchief hidden in one of his sleeves. The closest to Buenos Aires and the life that he left behind …

The couple greeted the almost incredible crowd of the balcony and did not give them one but four kisses!

Serious kisses, no occasional or formal discretion. With desire, desire and a long way traveled after this Sevillian fair …

So they left the church under a bow of military swords. At the door, he had to wait for the call "Gold trolley": In fact, Javanese teak covered with small sheets of the most coveted metal on the planet. But it was in restoration … He replaced the no less amazing glbad float built in 1821 by will of Guillermo I.

Last steps of the big day. Courtyard cake – four floors – in the main hall of the royal palace, applause of kings, queens and princes … and a brave and glorious historical figure: Nelson Mandela.

Because? Because during his atrocious years of detention in a cell where minimal measures were another form of torture – apartheid could always be more cruel – the Dutch royal family lobbied the regime for its freedom … and Guillermo was in the forefront when the famous black leader took over the presidency of South Africa.

In an aside, Mandela tells him:
-When you are married, I want to be at your wedding.

Then, still in a carriage, among cheers and flowers, I crossed the city on a day when nobody worked … or pedaled: extraordinary signs!

Honeymoon in the Caribbean. Far from cameras and earth noise.

But she and Guillermo come to these pampas and mountains whenever they can. They choose Patagonia for their family holidays.

As if this waltz danced in Seville continued ringing.