Sister of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands found dead in apparent suicide
The younger sister of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands was found dead at her apartment in Buenos Aires on Wednesday night. Inés Zorreguieta, 33, is believed to have taken her own life.
A spokesman for the Dutch government told Argentinian newspaper La Nacion that her death was presumed to be a suicide. Inés worked for the Ministry of Social Development in her native Argentina.
Inés was a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding to then-Prince Willem-Alexander, who is now the king, in 2002. She was also a godmother to the royal couple’s youngest daughter, 11-year-old Princess Ariane.
According to reports, Inés had been suffering from depression. No other details on her death have been made available at this time.
Queen Maxima was “shocked and devastated” by her sister’s death, the Dutch government told the paper De Volkskrant. She has already cancelled all of her schedule and is believed to be travelling from Holland to Buenos Aires soon. King Willem-Alexander will carry out his duties alone.
Inés was the youngest child of Jorge Zorreguieta, who was agriculture minister during Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship, and his second wife, Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart. She and Maxima have two brothers, Juan and Martin, and three half-sisters, Dolores, Maria and Angeles Zorreguieta Lopez. Their father died last year from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Their brother, Martin, posted a video of her Inés singing and playing the guitar last year. He called her “very beautiful and talented.”