THE HAGUE, 31/03/01 - Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand has had the title Prince of Orange since the investiture of his mother as Queen in 1980. This historical designation is constitutionally reserved for the "presumptive heir to the throne". The last Prince of Orange before Willem-Alexander was Prince Alexander, the son of Willem III, who died in 1884.

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht on 27 April 1967, the eldest child of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. After his third year at secondary school, he started attending the Atlantic College in Wales. "I just wanted to leave home," he explained later. In 1995, he gained his International Baccalaureate.

At the age of eighteen, he came of age, according to the constitution, and was officially considered suitable to succeed to the throne. In this capacity, he was also inaugurated as a member of the Council of State, the government's highest advisory body. In the same year, 1985, he joined the Royal Netherlands Navy to fulfil his military service.

In 1987, the Prince moved to Leiden, to study history. At the same time, his duties became more frequent. For example, he accompanied his mother on a State visit to Japan in 1991, and to the Netherlands Antilles the following year.

The Prince is particularly active in sports. In 1986, he took part in the eleven-city skating marathon (Elfstedentocht), and in 1992, he ran the marathon in New York. The Crown Prince is also a keen pilot, and has gained several licenses. He regularly flies the government plane PBX himself. In 1998, the Prince became a member of the International Olympic Committee, although not until the IOC had demonstrated sufficient "self-cleansing capacity" and had got rid of officials found guilty of fraud.

Like all heirs to the throne, the Prince is constantly the target of the gossip columns. His tendency to plumpness and his love life are favorite subjects. The girlfriends seen in his company were particularly harassed. But 1999 was the year of Maxima, and the Netherlands reacted with dismay, not because of her, but because of her father, who had taken part in the military junta in Argentina.

In 2000, the Prince made a successful official visit to Japan, to mark the 400th anniversary of the relations between the countries. He held speeches on the war years that drew considerable attention, and said to reporters following the tour that he was a supporter of the discussion on the position of the monarchy. If the monarchy did not keep up with the times, the Prince declared, it would be abolished.

In the autumn, Willem-Alexander travelled to Morocco. Shortly after that, the news leaked out that Maxima's parents had visited his parents. On the Queen's 63rd birthday, Alexander publicly took his girlfriend to the - private - celebrations in the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum.

It became clear on 6 March of this year that the public discussions about his girlfriend's father did not leave the Prince unaffected. He commented to journalists that they should read a letter published in La Nacion newspaper, which turned out to have been sent in by junta leader Videla. Prime Minister Wim Kok reacted angrily, and indicated his dissatisfaction about the Prince's blunder to the media.