Princess’s family ‘not amused’ by stripper cousin

6 May 2004

AMSTERDAM — As if having a former SS officer, a minister in a brutal dictatorship and a one-time friend of a drug lord as part of the clan, a stripper has been unmasked as yet another risqué addition to the extended Dutch royal family.

German magazine De Bild uncovered Argentine Laura Vina, 22, who has carved out a reputation for herself as a stripper in a club in Buenos Aires.

Vina was only too happy to confirm she is a cousin to Princess Maxima, wife of Crown Prince Willem Alexander. De Bild published titillating photos to illustrate the story

Known as “La China” because of her slanting eyes, Vina is the black sheep of the Argentine family, newspaper De Telegraaf reported, and left the family home at 18 because she was pregnant. She now features naked in the club as “family to Maxima”.

Maxima’s father, Jorge Zorreguieta — who served as a civilian minister in the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s — was not amused. 

“This woman is flaunting herself because she is Maxima’s cousin. She has brought scandal on the family,” he was quoted as saying.

The connection between Maxima and Vina is somewhat distant as Vina’s grandmother and Maxima’s grandmother were sisters.

The Dutch government information service RVD has stressed Maxima has had not had contact with Vina for a long time.

The latest stir comes after the royal family was rocked last year by revelations that Mabel Wisse Smit withheld the full extent of her former relationship with drugs baron Klaas Bruinsma. As a result, Parliament did not approve of her April wedding to Prince Johan Friso.

The royals have not been spared controversy in the past either, including public outrage that German-born Prince Bernhard — the husband of deceased Queen Juliana — once served as a German SS officer. 

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news