Photo Gallery 'Call Me King Alex'
Friendly, folksy, fun to drink with: The new king of the Netherlands wants to be a modern monarch -- in stark contrast to his mother.
Willem-Alexander at age 15. Two years earlier, a week before his mother was due to be crowned queen, he told a reporter he didn't really want to move to The Hague. He said he'd rather stay at Drakensteyn Castle where it was "much freer."
Willem-Alexander with his father, Prince Claus of the Netherlands, on the slopes during a family vacation in Lech, Austria.
Willem-Alexander and his wife Máxima attend the wedding ceremony of Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg in 2012. On April 30, 2013, Willem-Alexander was crowned king of the Netherlands, making him the first Dutch king in 123 years.
Willem-Alexander and Máxima's courtship was riddled with scandal, but eventually the couple became extremely popular with the Dutch people. Here is a photo from their wedding in 2002.
The couple was married on Feb 2, 2002 in the Nieuwe Kerk church in Amsterdam. A clause in their marriage contract states that Máxima's father, a minister under Argentine dictator Jorge Videla, may not be present at any state occasions.
Willem-Alexander and Máxima's eldest daughter, Catharina-Amalia, is baptized in The Hague on June 12, 2004. Now nine years old, she is the heir apparent. Like her father, Amalia goes by her middle name.
The parents and their so-called "A-Team" (Amalia, Alexia and Ariane) vacation in Villa la Angustura, Máxima's Argentine hometown in December 2012.
The couple loves to go riding. Here, they're pictured in June 2006 in Mongolia, where they were making an official visit.
Princess Máxima helps her daughter Alexia on a ski trip in Lech, Austria in 2009. Of all of Europe's royal families, the Orange-Nassau dynasty is seen as particularly likeable.
Máxima (second from right) with her father Jorge Zorreguieta (right) in August 1979 in Buenos Aires. Zorreguieta was a minister in the Argentine government in the late-1970s and early-1980s during the country's "Dirty War."
Wearing a black-and-red neoprene wetsuit, Princess Máxima takes part in a swim through the Amsterdam canals to raise money for the treatment of Lou Gehrig's disease on Sep 9, 2012. Luckily for Willem-Alexander, Máxima helped reconcile the people with their crown prince.
The family poses on the beach in Wassenaar in 2009. Willem-Alexander probably got his single-mindedness from his mother. Queen Beatrix always advised her son to remain true to himself and never swim with the tide.
The couple's third daughter, Ariane, was baptized in October 2007. As prepared as the Dutch are by their very nature to compromise, they still grumble now and again. Rumor has it that the new king has a penchant for expensive watches.
In 2006, the Dutch royal family poses while vacationing in their summer residence in Tavarnelle, Italy. Willem-Alexander and Máxima are often described as a "jet-set couple."
In opinion polls, the new king can never hold a candle to his wife. In the Netherlands no one is more popular than the beautiful and vivacious Máxima.
Willem-Alexander clearly inherited his easy-going manner from his grandmother. Queen Juliana could often be seen riding her bicycle or taking walks in her Wellington boots. Of Willem-Alexander and his family, there are also the obligatory cycling photos.
Máxima with her husband, her mother-in-law and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. The princess is popular with Germans, as well.
