Dutch Crown Princess Amalia turns 18: her best photos and striking revelations

As she reaches the age of 18, the Dutch Crown Princess Amalia is legally entitled to carry out the tasks of a queen. However, she prefers to stay a princess for a while longer, as her recent biography reveals: "I told my dad [King Willem-Alexander]: please just stay healthy and exercise!"

She was born on December 7, 2003 as Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria. She is generally referred to as, simply, Amalia.

When she was born, her grandmother Beatrix was still the queen of The Netherlands. Amalia's parents are Willem-Alexander, Beatrix's eldest son, and Máxima Zorreguieta, the Argentine socialite who became Princess of Orange after marrying the Dutch Crown Prince.

Amalia has two younger sisters: Alexia, who was born in 2005, and Ariane, born in 2007.

The three sisters had a fairly unbothered early childhood. This was already clear from the photos, but the biography 'Amalia' confirms it. The book came out a few weeks before the princess's 18th birthday.

The girls' father did not become king until 2013, when Amalia was 9 years old. On that April day, she became the heir apparent.

This is the moment when Amalia's status in the Dutch royal family changed. Queen Beatrix (in the middle) had abdicated and her father became King of The Netherlands.

After her father's coronation, the public and press began to make a much clearer distinction between Amalia and her two younger sisters. She was being prepared to become the queen of the country in a near or distant future.

(On the image: the family in front of their residential palace, Huis ten Bosch, in 2019)

The family has always been very involved in Dutch society and culture. They celebrate the king's birthday (April 27) on the street with the people. Each year, they visit a different town.

If she has time, Amalia will take selfies with royalty fans.

Amalia loves to join the family to international sports events, especially the Olympics. This image is from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The book about Amalia's life was written by comedian and actress Claudia de Breij, based on conversations with the princess. The Dutch heir made some shocking statements in the biography about her preparedness to become queen and about the importance of the monarchy in general.

(Image: Claudia de Breij and Princess Amalia, royal press office RVD)

If Willem-Alexander were to die at a young age, despite his daughter's pleas to 'eat well and exercise,' Amalia would ask her mother, Queen Máxima, to step in for a few years. She says she doesn't feel ready to ascend the throne just yet.

In 2018, Queen Máxima's sister, Inés, took her own life at age 33 in her Buenos Aires apartment. 14-year-old Amalia was shook. As she told the biographer, her parents sent her to see a child psychologist to deal with the sudden loss.

More generally, the life of a princess and celebrity sometimes gets to Amalia. Her private affairs and every move she makes in public are followed very closely. "Everyone looks at you like you have a goldfish on your head," she says in the biography.

Amalia still meets with a psychologist occasionally. "Sometimes it all gets too much for me, school, friends, and then I talk to someone. If I need to, I make an appointment. Just get it off my chest and then I'm done for another month."

The princess added that seeing a psychologist is "no taboo" to her. "And it's no problem to say this in public." She argues that it's "very normal" to talk to a professional once in a while, "especially after what happened to my aunt."

Mental health is not the only 'taboo' the crown princess addresses. She also talks about the future of the monarchy with a remarkable coolness.

If the Dutch would want to abolish the monarchy, she says, "they can do it, as far as I’m concerned... I’ll just carry on with living my life."

Part of that life is riding her horse Mojito, playing the piano, singing, and making a mean cocktail, the biography shows. Amalia even worked 'undercover' at a friends' restaurant for a while, and her nickname was 'cocktail queen'.

(Image: Amalia and Mojito in a photo released by the Dutch royal press office)

In the 2021-22 school year, both Amalia (18) and her sister Alexia (16) are away from the palace. While Alexia is completing her baccalaureate at the Atlantic College, a boarding school in Wales, Amalia is taking a gap year.

Details of the gap year are unknown, but Amalia's intention was to go abroad and do an internship at "a cool company." When she gets back, she will probably go to university at her father's alma mater in Leiden for a degree in history, law, or economics.