As summer winds down and royal schedules start filling up, many assumed the Dutch royals were already back in the Netherlands. King Willem-Alexander’s surprise return to Amsterdam to attend a sailing event seemed to confirm it. He was spotted enjoying Sail Amsterdam alongside Princess Mabel and his niece. However, the question lingered: where were Queen Máxima and the couple’s daughters? Are they back?
Mystery solved
New photographs reveal that Queen Máxima is still vacationing with her youngest daughter, Princess Ariane, aboard a yacht gliding through the turquoise waters of Spetses, a Greek island in the Aegean. Their family dog, Mambo, also joined the excursion, he’s a familiar presence in the royal family’s more casual portraits, like their summer photocall at Huis Ten Bosch Palace.
This isn’t the first time the Queen and her daughters have been seen during their summer getaway. On August 15th, during the Feast of the Assumption, Máxima and her two youngest daughters were also seen making a moving pilgrimage to the church of Agios Nikolaos on Spetses.
The island, situated at the southern edge of the Saronic Gulf, is beloved by Greece’s royal family and was even the wedding destination of Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Tatiana Blatnik. It was at that wedding that Willem-Alexander and Máxima reportedly fell in love with Spetses’ charm.
Controversial Conversation
In 2012, the couple sold their Mozambique vacation home and purchased a lavish villa in Kranidi, a town on the Peloponnese peninsula. The sprawling property, valued at around €5 million, (approximately $5.5 million USD) sits on nearly an acre of land and includes a private harbor and three separate residences.
However, the purchase has not been without controversy. Each year, Dutch citizens debate whether the royal family should maintain a summer residence so far from home.
Their holiday habits sparked particular backlash in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite government guidelines discouraging international travel, the royals flew to their Greek villa in October. In fact, within days, and after mounting public criticism, they were forced to cut the trip short and return to the Netherlands.
In a video message, the King and Queen apologized to Dutch citizens, calling their decision to travel “very imprudent.”
And just recently the royal family received criticism once again for spending this summer outside their country in comparison with other royals.