Princess Maxima will become queen when Crown Prince Willem-Alexander ascends the throne. A Lower House majority has rejected a proposal by three leftwing parties to change this tradition.
When a woman is head of state, as with Queen Beatrix, her husband has the title of prince. Conversely, however, the wife of the King does have the right to the title of Queen.
Labour (PvdA), the leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and the Party for Animals (PvdD) proposed on Friday that the spouse of the king or queen should be respectively a princess or prince. They reasoned that the present situation is discriminatory. But a house majority immediately shot down the plan.
The conservatives (VVD), Christian democrats (CDA) and small Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP want to maintain the tradition. The Socialist Party (SP) an centre-left D66 consider it an unimportant matter, but support the camp that wants to allow Máxima to be queen. The Party for Freedom (PVV) had not yet responded.
After four queens (Beatrix, Juliana, Wilhelmina, Emma) will have a king again for the first time in decades. The question of when the throne will change hands continues to provide fuel for speculation. When this happens, Beatrix will have the title of princess.
