Royal Profile: Princess Christina of The Netherlands

Princess Christina of the Netherlands was born Princess Marijke Christina of the Netherlands, is the youngest child of the late Queen Julianna of The Netherlands, thus the youngest sibling of The Netherlands' current reigning monarch, Queen Beatrix. She was born 18 February 1947 in The Netherlands{Source}.

Due to her mother contracting German measles (Rubella) while pregnant with her, the new young princess was left nearly blind from birth. However, due to advances in modern medicine, and special glasses, the princess was able to lead a relatively normal life. She was a happy, smart child that held a passion for languages-once, while attended a state visit by President of the French Republic René Coty, she was delighted to speak fluently with him in French!

She is also talented in music, she recorded several CDs and has a Music Foundation in the Netherlands. She sang at her father's funeral and at her mother's funeral and participated in a tribute concert that the CIMA Festival did in Italy for Queen Juliana, under the direction of Jorge Chaminé.

Due to being a descendant of Electress Sophia of Hanover, the princess could claim British Citizenship.

In 1963, the sixteen year old Princess began using her second name, Christina, rather than her first, Marijke. At 21 years old, she moved to Canada to study classical music. After a few years, she moved to the United States, where she worked as a montesorri teacher in New York as Christina van Oranje. While in the United States, she fell in love with a Havana-born Cuban exile named Jorge Pérez y Guillermo, who was also a teacher.

Her love came with controversy however, because her betrothed was Catholic. Due to this, she renounced her and her descendants rights to the throne and converted to Catholicism in 1975. Her engagement was announced on Valentine's Day, 1975. They were married in June 1975. Then they moved back to New York, and later moved back to The Netherlands. Together, they have two sons and a daughter as well a granddaughter{Source}. She and her husband divorced in 1996 after 19 years of marriage, she and her husband divorced, and she moved back to the United States. Since her sister's succession in 1980, she has lived in England and Italy. It is likely that she will attend her sisters abdication and nephew's investrue in April with rest of the extended Royal Family.

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