Aged 30, she had enjoyed a successful career in Wall Street before working for Deutsche Bank in Brussels.As the furore over her father’s past mounted, the couple’s chance of gaining the necessary parliamentary approval for the wedding started to look shaky. But Maxima shone by speaking excellent Dutch when she appeared at a press conference to announce the engagement. The betrothed then embarked on a tour of the 12 provinces where, as one politician put it, “they watched clog-dancing, admired local handicrafts and professed huge interest in the recipe for old-style waffles”.The required approval for the wedding was duly granted. Maxima was naturalised and won a dispensation from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Rotterdam to marry in a Protestant church (she has not converted but has agreed that any children will be brought up in the Dutch Reformed Church) The only remaining problem was over the guestlist. Maxima hinted that she wanted her father to walk her down the aisle but the authorities finally made clear that neither parent would be in the country tomorrow.Historians note that the dispute is not without precedent because Willem-Alexander’s mother, when Crown Princess, married a German, Claus von Amsberg, who had been a member of the Hitler Youth. With memories fresh in post-war Holland, that wedding provoked riots on the streets.There will be a “white scarf” demonstration in memory of the junta’s victims but the 6,000 police on duty will have more problems dealing with about 80,000 well-wishers.As Lousewies van der Laan, a republican Dutch liberal MEP, said: “It’s been played very cleverly and the nation has embraced Maxima. This is definitely not going to help us get rid of the monarchy.”.

The European Union could start an unprecedented military operation within months under proposals outlined yesterday for the EU to take over control of peace-keeping duties from Nato in Macedonia. He hoped to win agreement on the plan from his fellow leaders in June.Germany heads a mission of about 1,000 mainly European peace-keepers operating under a Nato umbrella in Macedonia. Their job is to guarantee the safety of international observers, but the mandate expires in March and Mr Aznar envisages a replacement force as a trial run for Europe’s nascent defence ambitions.Mr Aznar said he would like “Macedonia to be the first example of European security and defence policy operationability and we would like the decision on that effectively to be reached under the Spanish presidency [of the EU].”Nato officials reacted coolly yesterday, saying that they had yet to see the details of any proposal, which some might see as a further blow to an organ-isation that has been margin-alised during the war against terrorism in Afghanistan.. Italy’s civil aviation authority has issued a warning to all airline operators to check that outdated or faulty parts had not been used in their aircraft, in the wake of a probe into a second-hand parts scam which has sent ripples of fear through the airline industry. The crash occurred when the tailfin, made of a composite plastic, broke off the Airbus A-300 just after take-off from Kennedy airport.The ENAC document says any suspect parts must be segregated and companies must decide whether to substitute any suspect parts immediately or wait until the normal replacement date. It also said that any airlines who had bought parts from the companies under investigation and then sold them on must notify the end users.As well as Panaviation, Italian prosecutors are investigating two other brokerage firms, New Tech Italia and New Tech Aerospace. Panaviation is reported to have had dealings with major airlines over the years, including Air France, Swiss Air, and Lufthansa, although Air France and Lufthansa yesterday denied they had any dealings with Panaviation.Police last Saturday raided a hangar at Rome’s Fiumicino airport where six Alitalia A300 Airbus planes, that had been sold to Panavision, were being stripped without the required safety authorisation.

These parts were about to be sent to Danbee Aerospace in North Carolina, which had advertised the new offers complete with photos on their website.The use of second-hand parts is routine in the aviation industry, but the danger comes from fake certificates which state incorrect age and state of the components.”These are highly complex machines Everything is part of a huge, complex jigsaw. Once one part of the jigsaw goes then there is the potential for others to fail in quick succession,” said Chris Yates, security editor for Jane’s Transport. Italian police have seized thousands of aircraft parts and documents. Colonel Aniello Albano, of the Guardia di Finanza in Sardinia, said his squad of ten men were now “trying to reconstruct the life history of some ten thousand pieces”. He said the task could take several months.A purchasing officer of the Meridiana airline company, has also been arrested accused of taking a 7 percent backhander of the price of parts from Panaviation, in return for turning a blind eye to the dubious origin of the components.The owner of Danbee Aerospace, Dan Batchelor, said yesterday he trusted Panaviation.