The reign of
The Crown
has ended on Netflix, but that of contemporary crowned heads on our screens has only just begun.
The Danes have announced a project around Margrethe II.
But it’s the Dutch who get the ball rolling with
Maxima
.
Launched on April 20 to coincide with the traditional festivities surrounding King's Day, this event series, on the set of which
Le Figaro
visited, traces the entry into the royal family of Queen Maxima.
A popular figure, considered the savior of the monarchy, to whom she brought her glamorous charisma and human warmth, the Argentine wife of King Willem-Alexander was not always adored by her subjects.
Born in 1971 in Buenos Aires, Maxima Zorreguieta was born into a bourgeois, pro-junta family.
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Like
The Crown
,
Maxima
intends to adopt an intimate, first-person point of view.
“We cannot, of course, know what the Queen felt.
We have a responsibility not to write anything ,
”
warns producer Rachel van Bommel, keen to avoid controversies like those born during the last seasons of
The Crown
.
“
We rely on good sources: the authorized biography of Marcia Luyten,”
she continues.
Published for the 50th birthday of the queen, who gave her approval and the contact details of her loved ones, this book collects the testimonies of those who knew her in Argentina and New York, where Maxima worked in finance.
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A tango and tears
Entitled
Motherland
, this work is the common thread of these six episodes, which cover four decades, from the seventies until the royal engagement in 2001.
Maxima
recounts as much the formation of the royal couple as the Latin American adolescence of the sovereign, her complicity with his father, Secretary of State for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries under the Videla dictatorship, the ambitions of his upstart family.
“Beneath these fairy tale airs, there are darker currents at the heart of this biopic.
The series is also a story of Argentina, its taboos and this awareness by Maxima.
There is a Shakespearean dimension to her.
Suddenly, she found herself in the global spotlight, forced to choose between her father, who was her confidant, and Willem-Alexander.
To overcome obstacles and hostility, she showed strength and self-sacrifice ,
”
points out Rachel van Bommel.
Read alsoIn the footsteps of a queen: we followed Máxima from the Netherlands at the MEP, in Paris
Maxima accepted an investigation into her father's involvement in the junta's policy of repression and had to give up inviting him to her wedding day.
His tears, those of his solitude when a tango tune sounded in the middle of the ceremony to recall his origins and those who were absent, remain memorable.
An iconic image of this royal wedding.
Delfina Chaves and Elsie de Brauw MARTIJN VAN GELDER/Millstreet Films
Filmed between the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and the “Big Apple”,
Maxima
aroused great curiosity in the kingdom.
The newspapers followed the casting step by step.
National star, Elsie de Brauw portrays her features to Queen Beatrix, Sebastian Koch (
The Lives of Others
) to her German husband Claus, whose childhood in Nazi Germany was also subject to controversy.
Which gives him a hook with Maxima, the series suggests.
Martijn Lakemeier plays an intimidated Willem-Alexander, and Argentine actress Delfina Chaves, who took intensive Dutch lessons, slips into the title role.
“It was an opportunity to discuss the period of the junta with those close to me
,
”
confides the actress.
The men of the family Martijn Lakemeier and Sebastian Koch MARTIJN VAN GELDER/Millstreet Films
Is the royal house waiting with a certain excitement for the broadcast of this series which has not yet found a broadcaster in France?
Asked about this, the queen said: “
I know my life very well.
I don't need to look.
»