Dutch Royal Castles, Palaces and Residences

[Tina]

Paleis op de Dam - Amsterdam

[Tina]

Paleis Huis ten Bosch - Den Haag

[Tina]

Paleis Noordeinde - Den Haag

[Tina]

Paleis Soestdijk - Baarn

[Tina]

Holiday home of the Dutch Royal Family - Port Ercole

[Tina]

Wassenaar

[Janet]

I returned yesterday from a short break in the Netherlands with my husband.

As you can imagine I tried to fit in as much royalty as possible.

We were actually staying in Amsterdam but made a day trip to The Hague which
impressed me so much more than Amsterdam. We took a royal bus tour which showed
all of the royal sites of The Hague. I greatly enjoyed this and would advise anyone
visiting The Hague to do this. On our walk around the town I was struck by a
restaurant called Maxima’s garden. I loved the Dutch parliament buildings, the Peace
Palace and the Hans Holbein exhibition in a gorgeous mini palace close by.

I was stunned by the Nordeine Palace. It seemed completely out of place and very
small. I was quite shocked to find an ice crean van sitting outside the gates but it was
very nice ice cream!!!

I was slightly less impressed by Amsterdam in general but the royal palace is much
better in reality than it appears in photographs. I toured the palace in around two hours
and was very impressed, the main hall is incredible. My favourite part though was the
video that we got to see. It showed the development of the palace and obviously
showed important events in history such as the abdication of Queen Juliana. We saw
short clips as Beatrix signed the official documents and turned to her mother and
Juliana held on to her daughter’s hand. Beatrix looked very moved.

There was more clips of Beatrix and I must say my impression of her has changed
quite considerably. Watching her in motion, she appears an incredibly vibrant, friendly
looking and alive woman, which doesn’t really come across in photographs. The
dresses she wore during the video were awful though.

There was a brief clip of Prince Claus celebrating the year of European Music in the
roof of the Amsterdam Palace and several of the audience (I assume they were Dutch)
sighed sadly!

I must say though all the Dutch people we meet were incredibly nice and helpful and I
must admit some shame at how amazingly well everyone spoke English, when ever I
go abroad it always makes me feel ashamed that so many people speak my language
and I can barely string a few sentences together without the assistance of a guide book.

[Helena]

HM the Queen lives in Palace 'Huis ten Bosch' in The Hague (near Wassenaar)

Her Majesty's workpalace/ office is Noordeinde Palace, in the center of The Hague. Janet only saw the front of the palace, which is rather small. King Willem I added some extra buildings to thepalace & it is quite large, but you can only see that from the backside.

Princess Juliana & Prince Bernhard are living at Soestdijk POalace, Baarn (almost the center of the country, near Utrecht)

Villa Eikenhorst in Wassenaar is build on grounds that once belonged to Prince Frederik (2nd son of King Willem I, father of Queen Louise of Sweden & Norway), the grounds where inherited by his 2nd daughter Marie, Princess of Wied, she sold the grounds (Raaphorst, de Horsten etc. to her niece Queen Wilhelmina) In the 80-ties Princess Christina built a villa on the estate, now it is beiing recdecorated for the Prince & Princess of Orange

Palace op de Dam is only used for ceremonial purposes, sometimes heads oof state will spent the night there during a state visit (not often though)

The Queen also owns the wonderful small Castle ''Drakensteyn' which is next to Soestdijk palace, she lived there before she became Queen. Sometimes she spent the weekends over there (not very often) and it is expected that either Johan-Friso or Constantijn will establish there with their family.

In Apeldoorn there is palace 'Het Loo', favorite resort of Queen Wilhelmina, but now used as a museum, on the estete Princess Margriet & her husband are living in a bungalow. On the same estate there is the castle 'het oude Loo' used when the family wants to hunt.

Princess Irene lives in a large house in 'Wijk bij Duurstede (below Utrecht)

Princess Juliana & Prince Bernhard have the villa 'l'elephante felice' in Porto Ercole, the owns queen an old farm in Tavernele, Tuscany.

I believe that Princess Margriet also owns a chalet in Lech.

[TODOI]

Does the Queen ever stay in the palace or does she just have receptions and banquets there then leave???

also what are the other rooms like I always see pictures of the big hall and the other halls but never the rooms has anyone got any pictures of any other rooms from the Palace???

[The Watcher]

Sometimes she stay in the Royal Palace (like when the Spanish King and Queen visited the Netherlands) but that didn't happen often. The other times that she visits the palace is only for receptions and banquets etc. and then she goes home, to Huis ten Bosch in The Hague.

When you go to the official site of the Royal Family, you can make a Virtual Tour, that enables you to view the Royal Palace(s).

Site of the Royal Family

[Josefine]

Soestdijk Palace what will happen to this castle now

[royal_sophietje]

Good question Josefine!! I was asking this myself too. Perhaps it will go to one of grandchildren, but I guess it will be more likely that it will be turned into a museum.

[Marengo]

I hope that Maxima and Willem-Alexander will be living there. It is such a wonderfull, warm palace! But a expensive restoration in order to reside the cronwprince and princess is out of the question I think, they just settled in Wassenaar (which was quite expensive as well) and it would be more practical for them to live near The Hague.
Anyway, if I had my way they would move in and Constantijn and Laurentien could use the villa in Wassenaar?
I hope and think that Her Majesty will not allow the palace where she spent her childhood, the familyhome etc will be turned into a museum. Soestdijk is the most 'private' palace the royal family has.

[Isabel]

Originally Posted by Marengo

I hope that Maxima and Willem-Alexander will be living there. It is such a wonderfull, warm palace! But a expensive restoration in order to reside the cronwprince and princess is out of the question I think, they just settled in Wassenaar (which was quite expensive as well) and it would be more practical for them to live near The Hague.
Anyway, if I had my way they would move in and Constantijn and Laurentien could use the villa in Wassenaar?
I hope and think that Her Majesty will not allow the palace where she spent her childhood, the familyhome etc will be turned into a museum. Soestdijk is the most 'private' palace the royal family has.

I hope that members of the family of could live there and allow certain areas to be open to the public during certain times of the year as a museum. I think that the Windsors do that with one of their estates.

[Alexandria]

Are there any more pictures of Amsterdam Royal Palace?

Have there been any recent receptions or banquets hosted here?

[ropura]

:) Dear Alexandria,

I sent you a photo from the Royal Palace of Amsterdam,I hope you like at.

This is the hall of the Royal Palace from Amsterdam,where Queen Beatrix gift Banquet for the Royal guest.

In the winter time is the Palace very cold,because the hall is from marmer stones.
If the Queen gift (New Year reception) its takes view days to make the marmer hall warm,before she come to the Palace for the "New Year" reception.

(More picture below)

-ropura-

Photo by Rosiati Ismangil.

[Marengo]

I have visited the palace only 3 weeks ago. Like the main hall the rest of the palace also contains lots and lots of marble. As it was a cityhall originally some statues are a bit awkward. Downstairs for example you have a room where deathcentences were spokn out, with some marble skeletons etc. On the same level of the big hall there are about 20 rooms, some of them big, some of them smaller. It includes the Moses and AAron room where Queen Juliana signed her abdication and also the private apartments of King Louis Napoleon and Queen Hortense of Holland.

After a deathsentence the condemned was brought upstairs and was led to a special constructed wooden balcony where that person was hanged. The bacony was almost on the excact spot as where the present balcony is.

Lots of pictures of this palace (and a few others) on:

http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/english...?objectid=5716

[ropura]

Door to the room from the hall.
Every room have differend color of chair,like- red -green-blue-purple ect.

Photo by R.Ismangil.