They’re the King and Queen of low-key cool. The Dutch royal couple visited New York City Thursday — and although they’re not paparazzi magnets like Harry and Meghan, they’ve got an fascinating backstory, a “boundary-pushing” style and an economy-boosting political agenda. King Willem-Alexander , 57, is known as a laid-back, beer-loving former Romeo who flies planes while Queen Máxima, 53, is fashion-forward Argentinian-born former New York City investment banker who was once dubbed Europe’s “ most interesting” royal.
The lesser known potentates arrived in the US Monday on a Boeing 737 jet co-piloted by the king himself, who moonlights as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines pilot to keep his flying license up to date, according to his bio . The couple — who has three daughters, including 20-year-old heir apparent Princess Catharina-Amalia — traveled to the Empire State in a bid to strengthen economic ties between Netherlands and the US. They kicked off their four-day trip in Georgia then spent Wednesday in Albany meeting with Gov.
Kathy Hochul at the Governor’s mansion before attending business-boosting nanotechnology event. The Queen changed her outfit — from a playful yellow dress to more sensible slacks — for the SUNY nanotechnology center appearance, where the king proclaimed that Netherlands “accounts for 57,000 jobs” in New York State. “New York became what it is because of the Dutch.
Their willingness to explore new worlds, to go into the unknow.
