Queen Máxima celebrates her 50th birthday on Monday, 17 May 2021, with the release of three new photos.

King Willem-Alexander took the photos in the gardens of Huis ten Bosch Palace earlier in May.

Queen Máxima was born on 17 May 1971 in Buenos Aires, Argentina – the daughter of Jorge Zorreguita and his second wife, Maria de Carmel Cerruti Carricart.

She met Willem-Alexander then Prince of Orange in Seville, Spain, in April 1999 and announced their engagement on 30 March 2001.

They married on 2 February 2002 in a civil ceremony in the Beurs van Berlage, followed by a religious ceremony at the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in Amsterdam.

They have three daughters, Princess Catharina-Amalia (the Princess of Orange), Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima travelled to Australia for their first state visit in November 2016.