hellomagazine.com

PRINCESS MARGRIET GETS BUTTERFLIES IN AMSTERDAM ZOO

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6 OCTOBER 2006

The Netherlands' Princess Margriet had a vibrant encounter when she went along to open a new feature at the Artiz Zoo in Amsterdam this week. Queen Beatrix' younger sister met up with some of her home country's most colourful inhabitants when she opened the attraction's new butterfly pavilion.

Perhaps it was the 63-year-old's floral jacket that encouraged some of the creatures to come closer, but the royal visitor wasn't the only one sporting eye-catching hues. A group of local children who had gone along to join in the fun went one step further by donning bright face paint and butterfly wings for their day of natural magic.

Princess Margriet, who is eighth in line to the Dutch throne, was named after the flower worn by people in her homeland as a symbol of resistance during the Nazi occupation in WWII. Her parents, Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana, were living in exile in Canada when their third daughter was born. And the little girl didn't actually set foot in her own country until two and a half years later.

Although she doesn't have as high a profile as her elder sibling, the mother of four is a much-loved figure in the Netherlands, especially around the city of Apeldoorn where she lives with her husband Pieter.