Queen Máxima spoke about the possibility of bringing her daughters with her on future UN trips during her working visit to Bangladesh this week in her role as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.
“They ask a lot about my work, and we talk about it a lot,” Queen Máxima said in an interview in Bangladesh, referring to her three daughters, Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.
The Queen referenced the working visit Queen Mathilde of Belgium undertook late last month to Kenya with her 17-year-old daughter Princess Elisabeth, saying that her daughters “are a bit younger than Queen Mathilde’s daughter. We will see in due course whether there is room in school and also whether it will happen in the future.”
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant recently accompanied her mother on a visit to Kenya for the Belgian branch of UNICEF, her first official overseas trip as she begins accompanying her parents on their royal duties.
Princess Elisabeth’s participation in the trip was previously unannounced – it wasn’t until the day of the journey that the press knew she’d be joining her mother – but as she’s off from school for the summer, it was possible for her to join in.
Queen Mathilde said on a previous UNICEF trip, to Laos in 2017, that she hoped her eldest daughter would follow in her footsteps but not until she finished school.
“First she has to finish school,” Queen Mathilde told the Belgian media that accompanied her on that trip.
Queen Máxima just wrapped up her visit to Bangladesh, where she met with businesses and business owners, as well as the President and Prime Minister of Bangladesh ahead of the country’s plans to implement a new financial strategy to improve its citizens’ use of financial services and institutions, which currently hovers at around 50%.
