Born Maria Christina and known as Marijke till 1963, Princess Christina was born nearly blind as her mother, the then Princess Juliana, had contracted rubella during pregnancy. Treatments over the years helped bring about an improvement. However, the introduction of the faith healer and Rasputin-like figure of Greet Hofmans caused a constitutional crisis.
Christina studied music in Canada and taught it in New York. Although a highly private person, she sang at the wedding of her nephew Prince Bernard Jnr and at the funerals of both her parents. She completed a dance therapist training and worked, in the later part of her career, with sound and dance therapy.
In 1975 she married Cuban exile Jorge Pérez y Guillermo and had three children: Bernardo (born 1977), Nicolás (born 1979), and Juliana (born 1981). Rather than cause a constitutional crisis by marrying a Roman Catholic, as her elder sister Irene had done, Christina had renounced her and her descendants' rights to the Throne before announcing her marriage, before which she converted to Catholicism.
Princess Christina passed away after a short illness due to bone cancer. Her funeral was a typically brightly coloured affair with sunflowers.
Her Royal Highness' Coat of Arms show the family Quarterings of Nassau/Netherlands with the Bugles of Orange. The Shield has an Inescutcheon of a red Rose on a white background which is the Coat of Arms for Lippe and represents her father, HRH Prince Bernard. The Arms are basically the same of all of Christina's sisters. Only Princess Beatrix, as an ex-sovereign, carries her Arms on a Shield, the other sisters - Irene, Margriet and Christina - carry theirs on an Oval. The Supporters are Lions, facing each other, and the whole Achievement is finished off with Dutch Royal Crowns and an ermine-lined Pavillion.