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Prince Willem-Alexander

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But now, a new Crown Prince seems to have emerged: "He has visibly grown in his role," said one commentator in the Dutch media, describing him as "extremely strong". So what is this change of heart down to? By all accounts, to Maxima Zorreguieta, the woman who will become his queen and for whom, the Prince said, he would have renounced the Orange throne if necessary.

The first child of Princess Beatrix, heir to the Dutch throne, and her husband Prince Claus, Willem-Alexander was born on April 27, 1967, at a hospital in Utrecht. The sandy-haired youngster's early years were spent at Drakensteyn Castle with his two brothers, Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn.

Princess Beatrix (she did not become Queen until her son was 13) insisted that her children had a normal upbringing, with staff instructed to call her son by his first name until he was 16. Willem-Alexander was educated at a Protestant grammar school in The Hague, where he mixed with children from all social backgrounds.

But his increasing rebelliousness and problems with his parents meant that the teenage prince was sent to Atlantic College near Cardiff for a two-year course, where he gained an International Baccalaureate in 1985. "I had problems with my parents at the time," said Willem-Alexander in a TV interview much later. "And my parents had problems with me. So it was best for us to split up."

After the obligatory military service – it is compulsory in the Netherlands – which was spent in the Royal Netherlands Navy, Willem-Alexander studied history at Leiden University, gaining his degree in 1993. But books did not interest him nearly as much as flying planes did and, after gaining his Military Pilot's Licence, Willem-Alexander immersed himself back in the armed forces, spending several months studying at the Netherlands Defence College. He has since flown humanitarian relief missions in Kenya and even acted as pilot for his country's politicians, ferrying government ministers to meetings abroad.

As well as having served in a military career – the prince has several military titles, including that of Aide-de-Camp Extraordinary to his mother – Willem-Alexander has represented the royal family on official occasions many times. But his real interest lies in water management – above all in Eastern Europe – and he is both honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century and patron of the Global Water Partnership, a body established by the World Bank, the UN and the Swedish Ministry of Development Cooperation.

In May 1999, the tall, blond prince met the woman who was to become his wife, at a party organised by mutual friends in the Spanish city of Seville. He was instantly taken by Maxima, an Argentine economist who was working in New York for Deutsche Bank and, a month later, took his first trip across the Atlantic to visit her.

The couple announced their engagement in March 2001, which was deemed controversial at first, due to the fact that Maxima's father, Jorge, was a minister during the brutal military junta that ruled Argentina during the Seventies. She has since won the Orange people round with her spontaneity and intelligence, not to mention her evident devotion to the man she calls Alexander. They married in February 2002. Their first baby, Princess Catharina-Amalia, was born on December 7, 2003 and their second, Princess Alexia Juliana followed in June 2005.

Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander's father, sadly passed away in October 2002, aged 76.

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