Queen Maxima sharpens up in a suit for banking conference (2024)

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She gave up a high-flying career in international finance when she married the Netherland's King Willem-Alexander in 2002 but it seems Queen Maxima hasn't entirely forgotten her roots.

The Dutch Queen, 43, is in Beijing for a four-day visit and joined high-level bankers for a meeting at the headquarters of the Bank of China.

She was there to represent the UN in her role of Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance - a job she was handed in 2009 by Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

Maxima, who is also the Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, has been tasked with raising awareness of the benefits of financial systems that also help the poor.

In practice, this means improving access to savings, insurance and credit, all of which are particularly important in countries where famine and rising food prices can hit the poorest hard and, in the worst cases, lead to starvation and malnutrition.

Access to credit and savings also gives business a boost, and allows small farmers and entrepreneurs in poor countries to strike out on their own and move past subsistence.

China, despite being considered one of the world's financial powerhouses, remains a country where the gap between rich and poor remains stark, with many country-dwellers finding it difficult to access finance.

That, however, is something Maxima and Bank of China president Zhou Xiaochuan hope to change and the reason for the high-level talks taking place today and over the next three.

Maxima herself is no stranger to the Far East having recently completed a tour of Japan and South Korea with her husband Willem-Alexander, 47.

Since returning, the royal has endured a tough few weeks after her father Jorge Zorreguieta was hospitalised in her native Argentina after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

Mr Zorreguieta, 86, is a former politician who served as Agriculture Minister during the murderous rule ofGeneral Jorge Rafael Videla.

In addition to widespread human rights abuses, Videla's regime was also responsible for the 1982 attack on the Falkland Islands, which saw British troops deployed to the South Atlantic where they swiftly booted out Videla's forces.

As a result of his links to Videla's government, Mr Zorreguieta was asked not to attend Queen Maxima's 2002 wedding, with his wife María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart also choosing to stay away.

Queen Maxima

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