Prinses Beatrix in een kinderwagen tijdens de wintersportvakantie in Grindelwald, Zwitserland Possibly 1939

This snapshot of Princess Beatrix in a pram, amidst a Swiss winter wonderland, was captured by an anonymous photographer. You can feel the crisp mountain air, can’t you? What’s fascinating here is the intimacy of the shot, the casualness, and the feeling of the real. I bet the photographer took this while the family was on vacation, maybe a friend or even a relative, not some stiff court photographer. The composition, too, is really about the face, that is the focus. And look at Beatrix’s tiny face, framed by that furry hood. There’s a gravity, a seriousness that seems beyond her years. What was she thinking? I can’t help but wonder what it felt like to grow up in the spotlight, every moment captured, documented, like this one. It’s a candid moment, but also, a strangely loaded one.