page_title: Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Queen Máxima of the Netherlands / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Máxima Zorreguieta in 1977
context_page_description: Máxima is the spouse of King Willem-Alexander. On 30 April 2013, she became the first queen consort of the Netherlands since Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont and the first Argentine-born queen consort in the history of the Netherlands.
context_section_description: Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 17 May 1971. She is the daughter of Jorge Zorreguieta (1928–2017), who served as Secretary of Agriculture under General Jorge Rafael Videla during Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983), and his second wife, María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart (born 1944). She has two brothers, a sister (deceased), and three half-sisters by her father's first wife, Marta López Gil. She is named after her paternal great-grandmother Máxima Bonorino González (1874–1965). Her father was a scion of the Zorreguieta family who had been landed gentry, professionals,  regional politicians, and statesmen  for generations.  Her maternal great-grandfather was also from the landed gentry; Domingo Carricart Etchart (1885-1953) was a landowner, politician, Director of the Banco Provincial de Buenos Aires, first mayor of González Chaves, and mayor of Tres Arroyos.
  She grew up in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires city, and studied at Northlands School, a bilingual school of the city of Olivos. She graduated with a degree in Economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) in 1995. This private university is governed by a directory of local bishops, including the current Pope Francis, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Grand Chancellor of UCA. During her student years, Francis presided over the traditional Mass at the beginning of classes. She later completed her studies with a Master's degree in the United States.
  From 1989 to 1990, while still in college, she worked for Mercado Abierto Electrónico S.A. From 1992 to 1995, she worked in the sales department of Boston Securities SA in Buenos Aires, where she conducted research on software for financial markets. From July 1996 to February 1998, she worked for HSBC James Capel Inc. in New York City, where she became vice president of institutional sales for Latin America. From then until July 1999, she was vice president of the emerging markets division of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in New York. From May 2000 to March 2001 she worked for Deutsche Bank in Brussels. She also worked as a teacher of English to children and adults, and of mathematics for high-school students and freshmen.
caption: Máxima aged six, 1977
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