Dutch heir to the throne, Princess Catharina-Amalia, 20, revealed that she spent over a year in the Spanish capital, Madrid, following security warnings about threats from a drug mafia led by a Moroccan, Ridouan Taghi, who is serving a life sentence in the Netherlands. According to a report by the local newspaper De Telegraaf, which cited royal sources, Taghi and his close circle are known by the nickname "Angels of Death."
Ridouan Taghi, born in 1977 in the Moroccan city of Tetouan, across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, is a "drug baron" with Dutch nationality, and he leads the Moroccan mafia criminal organization from behind bars. He is the main suspect in various attacks, murders, and kidnappings committed by his organization. One of the most significant accusations against him is planning to harm Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and threatening to kidnap the eldest daughter of King Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife, Queen Máxima Zorreguieta, which forced their daughter, Princess Catharina-Amalia, to flee to Spain.
The princess abandoned her plans in 2022 to live in student housing due to security concerns, just weeks after starting her studies at the University of Amsterdam in political science, psychology, law, and economics. At that time, her mother, Queen Máxima, stated, "The princess cannot live in Amsterdam, nor can she leave the palace, and this has severe consequences for her life," referring to security reports indicating that Amalia and the Prime Minister were mentioned in communications from organized crime groups, raising fears of abduction threats against both.
The "Orange Princess" continued her studies at the University of Amsterdam from Spain through remote learning, as her mother mentioned during her recent visit to Sweden. Meanwhile, celebrity press spotted her strolling in the upscale shopping district of Salamanca in Spain. The threats against the princess were taken seriously by security agencies because Ridouan Taghi is accused of ordering his gang, which is said to control cocaine imports into Europe, to assassinate prominent Dutch journalist and justice activist Pieter de Vries, who was shot dead in Amsterdam in 2021.