Caras magazine apologises for calling Princess Catharina-Amalia 'plus-size' on cover

Portuguese celebrity magazine Caras has issued an apology after a cover that referred to 16-year-old Princess Catharina-Amalia as “plus-size” sparked widespread backlash.

For the magazine’s July cover, it featured a photo released by the Dutch royal family showing Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and her and King Willem-Alexander’s eldest daughter Princess Catharina-Amalia alongside a headline that, when translated to English, read: “Maxima’s oldest daughter proudly wears her ‘plus-size’ look.”

On the cover, it also included the subhead: “The harassed heir to the throne of the Netherlands faces criticism with force and with the support of her parents. A princess who goes through puberty without taboos and defends her figure of ‘real woman’.”

The cover of the weekly magazine prompted criticism on social media, where people used the comment section on Instagram to call out the publication for its “harmful” description of the teenager.

“They are talking about the body of a minor, adolescent and growing. Position yourselves. What authority or concern do they have to talk about it...Hopefully they reconsider and stop denigrating journalism, using the platform they have in such a useless and harmful way,” reads one person’s comment.

Another Instagram user encouraged the magazine to delete the cover and apologise, adding: “Who gave you permission to comment on the body of a 16-year-old girl?”

Initially, the magazine’s director Liliana Castaño released a statement defending the magazine, according to the DailyMail.

“Reading the whole text will go a long way to constructive discussion,” Castaño wrote on Instagram, according to a translation, adding that Princess Catharina-Amalia’s story about her experience with “bullying” despite all her “royal titles” could be “inspiring,” despite the magazine reportedly not speaking to the royal for the story, according to the DailyMail.

The magazine later issued an apology from Castaño on its website, where the director said the cover story “provoked the least desired controversy by our publication”.

Explaining that she believes the controversy may be an “opportunity to create a healthy space for reflection,” Castaño said, according to a translation to English: “We live in a time of deconstruction of stereotypes. The media are also mirrors of society. And of the changes that are transforming the world. We are all learning, the media too.

“We recognise our responsibility in this deconstruction and feel that we are part of it. We understand that even without malicious intent we made a mistake.”

Acknowledging that the magazine received “interesting, constructive” criticisms, Castaño continued: “The respect, pride and admiration we feel for Máxima Zorreguieta and her entire family was not reflected in the title of our last cover.”

The magazine director concluded the statement offering her “sincere apologies to all those who have felt aggrieved”.

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