Belgian Royal Residences

[politikgirl]

Wow! I'm so impressed with these palaces & castles. They're absolutely beautiful.

[Huddo]

would anybody have a floorplan of the Royal Palace in Brussels!..

[isabelle16]

I've visited the greenhouse and the royal palace when I was little, It's really beautiful especially the greenhouse is gorgeous and unic in the world

[le soleil]

Can anybody post pics of castle where queen fabiola lives!

[Marengo]

I didn' t know that Laeken is also opened to the public. What months would that be? I think it should be even more impressive then the royal palace.

[hrhcp]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

Philippe & Mathilde live in the castle of Laeken

Nice pictures.

Astrid and her family live in a newly built house, villa Schonenberg.

The two pictures raise the question - is this classified as a "villa" ?

.... the Belvédère (King & queen)

in my opinion, the pictures make this - the ideal palace for me.

Laurent lives in Tervuren

No pictures ?

The castles in Ciergnon and Fenffe are used by the king and his children, usually in the weekends.

Very nice pictures of "weekend get aways".

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Marengo

I didn' t know that Laeken is also opened to the public. What months would that be? I think it should be even more impressive then the royal palace.

Ther greenhouses of Laeken are always open for a number of days in the spring (i believe in late April/May) but it are only the greenhouses and not the Castle.

Monarchie - Greenhouses in Laeken

Here Information about the Opening times this year

Tourism Wallonia - Brussels (Belgium) : VISIT THE ROYAL GREENHOUSES IN LAEKEN

[isabelle16]

The greenhouse is open from this week


Go visit if you can I've been there years ago and its beautiful

[paola]

Originally Posted by isabelle16

The greenhouse is open from this week


Go visit if you can I've been there years ago and its beautiful

I recommend everybody to go. I have been there last saturday. What amazing beautifull azalea's they have. Whow! I am glad I could do this, this year.

[audrey2731]

those castles are gorgeous!!! can't believe to some people it's their homes!!!

[isabelle16]

Here is a video of the greenhouse
First there are parts of Prince Filip visiting Libanon and Princess Astrid
But the part from the greenhouse starts at 05.40
It's beautiful
Here it is:

bekijk deel 1

[isabelle16]

Ow, There is a part two, but it's not about the greenhouse anymore if you want me to post it, ask it
Post what you think of our greenhouse

xoxo, Isabelle

[isabelle16]

Really good video of the royal palace and greenhouse!

[Marengo]

I wondered if there are any pictures of the house the King owns in France? I don´t think I ever saw a picture of it.

What about Villa Astrida of Fabiola? I only recall the white fence from Baudouins passing but I don´t think I ever saw a picture of the villa itself.

[johann]

Originally Posted by Marengo

I wondered if there are any pictures of the house the King owns in France? I don´t think I ever saw a picture of it.

What about Villa Astrida of Fabiola? I only recall the white fence from Baudouins passing but I don´t think I ever saw a picture of the villa itself.

If isopix got it right, this is the villa of Albert and Paola in Châteauneuf-Grasse.
http://img188.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_142lo.JPG
http://img188.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_369lo.JPG
The pictures are from 1994 and I seriously doubt it still looks this way (if it´s the villa at all). It seems Albert also bought a neighbouring house not long ago and renovation works have been done in the meantime as well (thanks to Sofia for this info). But maybe someone else has better pics.

The same goes for Villa Astrida. IIRC Fabiola went back there this summer. The pictures I found just show the entrance area (plus Fabiola and Princess Nori) and date from 1993.
http://img178.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_176lo.jpg
http://img34.imagevenue.com/img.php?..._122_954lo.jpg
(corbis)

[Marengo]

Thanks for posting those Johann. I wouldn´t be surprised if the summerhouse of ALbert and Paola was modest though. They don´t seem to enjoy lavish housing that much. They preferred to stay at Belvedere instead of moving to far more imposing Laeken for example. Likewise their Dutch collegue has an old farm as summerhouse and the Norwegian royals have some charming but small summerhouses too.

I remember the white entrace of Villa Astrida from the days that Boudewijn died, still get somewhat sad to look at the villa.

[cdm]

I once saw pictures in a Belgian magazine (I think it was Story) of the swimming pool that is located in the greenhouse.
It looked really nice, like a subtropical swimming pool. I couldn't find them on the internet.
Does someone have them?

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I saw photos of the interior of the Greenhouses and I was stunned. It looked like an enchanted storybook.

The grounds of Laeken were idyllic as well. You'd have to drag me out of there if I ever went in person, I'd never want to leave!!

[Marengo]

Not a royal residence, but related to that:

Het Laatste Nieuws has an article on the state of the railway station at Laken Palace. Apparently it looks rather desolate. Windows are thrown in and people put grafiti on the walls. Every time they put in new windows they are thrown in again. They can't put a fence around it or camera's since the building is an official monument.

Article in Dutch here.

[LadyLeana]

You can see all Laeken residences with Google Earth (I haven't tried the others yet). I thought the image would be more blurred, like military zones or something (since nobody is allowed to fly over Laeken at all), but the satellite gives a nice enough image.