2 FEBRUARY 2002
The celebrations for the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Maxima Zorreguieta continued Friday with a pair of special events in honour of the couple: a private concert performance followed by a night-time stadium party attended by tens of thousands.

The happy couple and their royal guests began the afternoon with a concert of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, a musical interpretation of the famed Shakespeare play. Around thirty minutes into the performance, Russian violinist Vadin Repin played a variation of the unforgettable tango Por Una Cabeza, to the delight of Argentinian Maxima.

After the Royal Concertgebouw orchestra performance of the romantic tale with a tragic finale, the crown prince said it was a “lovely concert” joking, “Though its too bad that for an occasion such as this they weren’t able to change the ending.”

Willem-Alexander and his bride-to-be were then joined by upwards of 50,000 people Friday evening at a stadium party for the Dutch public organised by the National Committee of Orange. Willem-Alexander and Maxima were on hand to receive a gift from their subjects, a statue that will be placed in the garden the Eikenhorts villa in Wassenaar, where they will live after the wedding.

The official wedding celebrations had kicked off Thursday evening with a private reception at the royal palace. The ball, which coincided with Queen Beatrix’s 64th birthday, was attended by members of the royal families of Norway, Monaco, Japan, Spain and Sweden.