This is not to say that those marriages were without their share of controversy. But given the times (the 20th century had gone through two world wars), the *low* birth of Claus could not have been an issue. The reasons for purely political, as in the case of the *highborn* husband of Princess Irene, who renounced her succession rights for herself and her descendants, by marrying without the consent of Parliament.
I know that the fact that Claus von Amsberg was a german, "only" 20 years after WW2 was an obstacle to his marriage to Pss Beatrix.
Was his lower birth ever a handicap ?
That's because times have changed, and the royal houses -- both reigning and non-reigning -- have all lowered their marital standards. But before World War I, the Dutch were known to uphold one of the highest: even mediatized houses (e.g. Wied) had difficulty in getting accepted for intermarriage with the house of Orange.
Even if he had been King already, Willem-Alexander would have had to ask permission from parliament (after the government would have initiated a bill). So not even a King of The Netherlands can do as he pleases.
Now it is unlikely that the Dutch parliament would have withheld their approval of the bill, especially not on the grounds of Maxima being a non-noble woman.
Message Thread | This response ↓
« Back to index