Dutch king starts tour of Baltics without mourning queen

Published June 11, 2018

Dutch King Willem-Alexander has started a tour of three Baltic countries without his wife, Argentina-born Queen Maxima, who withdrew from the trip following the death of her youngest sister.

Willem-Alexander kicked off the state visits on Monday in Riga, Latvia, where he met with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis. He is scheduled to go to Estonia on Tuesday and will be in Lithuania on Thursday.

Maxima's 33-year-old sister, Ines Zorreguieta, was found dead June 6 in Buenos Aires.

Willem-Alexander's trip was to coincide with the Baltic nations celebrating the centenary of their declarations of independence from the Russian Empire. They were part of the Soviet Union until regaining independence in the early 1990s. They joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

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