Princess Christina of the Netherlands

Princess Christina of the Netherlands (Maria Christina; 18 February 1947 – 16 August 2019) was the youngest of four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She taught singing in New York and was a long-term supporter of the Youth Music Foundation in the Netherlands. Born visually impaired, she worked to share her knowledge of dance and sound therapy with the blind. She renounced her and her descendants' rights to the throne before marrying Cuban exile Jorge Guillermo in 1975, and converted to Catholicism in 1992. The couple had three children and built up an extensive art collection, before they divorced in 1996. Christina died of bone cancer in 2019. Early life Princess Christina, who was known as Princess Marijke in her youth, was born on 18 February 1947, at Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, the Netherlands. Her parents were Crown Princess Juliana, the only child of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. At the time of her birth, she was fifth in the line to the throne after her mother and three older sisters: Princess Beatrix, Princess Irene and Princess Margriet. She was baptised on 9 October 1947 and her godparents included Queen Wilhelmina (her maternal grandmother), her eldest sister Princess Beatrix, Sir Winston Churchill (for whom her father stood proxy), her paternal grandmother Armgard von Cramm, Prince Felix of Luxembourg, and his niece Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma.