Palace Huis Ten Bosch, The Hague

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Lee-Z

Did you mean going back to Buckingham palace after the renovation in 2025? Or going back to Buckingham palace , the way QEII alternates between her homes in Balmoral, Windsor and BP, with BP being the one she spends christmas?

I think other posts assumed the renovation of BP, but it just dawned on me you might have meant the alternating...
If that is the case: no, the dutch King and his family will not use various residencex and will move permantly to this Palace now the renovation is done..

Queen Elizabeth spends Christmas at Sandringham. She actually spends most of her time at Windsor only spending 2 or 3 nights a week at Buckingham Palace.

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Yes, they do the same with the current restoration of the Palace of Westminster. It is done while MP's and their staff are absolutely crammed in every broomstick closet. In the BBC-series about the House of Lords I saw situations which would cause all alarm bells ringing from Dutch or German safety inspectors: blocked escape routes, four bureaus crammed into a former kitchenette without safety exit, part of the sprinklers cut off because a few walls furtherer in the building constructors were stripping walls. My jaws dropped when I saw that. I recommend King Charles to empty the whole BP and use Clarence House as residence as long as BP is under construction. But okay, to paraphrase Saint Paul: when in London, do as the Londoners do. :-)

Charles, or King George VII as it's said he will be called, dislikes Buckingham Place and has said he has no intention of moving there. Ironically, Princess Elizabeth lived at Clarence House and wanted to stay there after she became Queen but Churchill insisted she move to Buckingham Palace.

[tommy100]

When the say the media will have access - does that mean more pictures to come? I assume just from the official rooms. Out of interest which wing is for the family - the left or right as looking at it?

Whilst I don't wholly agree with abdication its nice they are moving in without having to have faced the death of Beatrix.

[Duc_et_Pair]

The flagpole with the Royal standard misses the golden crown. I see also the big golden lanterns are still missing. Maybe these items get new gold and will re-appear, as the restoration continues.

The crown which used to top the flagpole:
https://www.verwoerd-watersport.nl/i...rouwwimpel.jpg

Originally Posted by tommy100

When the say the media will have access - does that mean more pictures to come? I assume just from the official rooms. Out of interest which wing is for the family - the left or right as looking at it?

Whilst I don't wholly agree with abdication its nice they are moving in without having to have faced the death of Beatrix.

I think the King will do a sightseeing with a camera team. Or a documentary about the restoration. When the silk wallhangings of the Japanese and Chinese Salons were restored, a visibly impressed Queen Beatrix showed a camera team the result. I saw snippets of that in the program Blauw Bloed, this weekend.

[ashelen]

I would love to see photos from inside, I guess I am dreaming! But it would be nice to see the decoration in all rooms

[eya]

The Huis ten Bosch, pictured in the fresh snow!

https://1.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:...9e4&m=nelefjgj
https://1.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:...9e4&m=nelefjgj
https://2.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:...9e4&m=aiecoblb
https://3.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:...9e4&m=cjfiooee

[Lee-Z]

after just having hand-shovelled my driveway i can say i'm glad i don't have to do theirs

[An Ard Ri]

Would make a nice insert photo on 2019 Christmas Cards!

Here are a few more photos!

https://www.ppe-agency.com/show.php?...-01-2019%20The

[Duc_et_Pair]

One can see the double ring:


The first gate with the alley leading to the second gate:
https://www.ppe-agency.com/500px/Jan...PE19012239.jpg


The second gate with the crash barriers:
https://www.ppe-agency.com/500px/Jan...PE19012238.jpg


Around the palace park is a moat as well, with anti-terrorism fences.

[An Ard Ri]

Some recent photos of Palace Huis ten Bosch

https://www.ppe-agency.com/show.php?...-03-2019%20The

[Duc_et_Pair]

I see they have found the old stone pillars with the guilded lanterns in depôt and returned these to the various entrances of the side-wings. I missed these on the first pictures after the restoration.

Picture: https://i1.wp.com/lilibetshandbag.bl...ng?w=992&ssl=1

The same lanterns before the restoration, when the windows were still in white paint:

Picture: https://previews.agefotostock.com/pr...h-47391855.jpg

[An Ard Ri]

Is there still working on going at Huis ten Bosch?

https://www.ppe-agency.com/show.php?...-2019%20Palace

[Duc_et_Pair]

In your link you can see the glass bulletproof glass fences besides the two gates: ironwork gate, ironwork gate, bulletproof glass fence.

Picture of the two gates (from before the restoration) : https://images4.persgroep.net/rcs/3r...7f&quality=0.9

These gates were the "soft spots" since the rest of the palace complex is moated and provided with an (ugly) terrorism proof fence. With the underground roadblocks and the glass fence this soft spot is enforced.

[An Ard Ri]

I've just noticed that now and the crash barriers on an earlier post.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

In your link you can see the glass bulletproof glass fences besides the two gates: ironwork gate, ironwork gate, bulletproof glass fence.

Picture of the two gates (from before the restoration) : https://images4.persgroep.net/rcs/3r...7f&quality=0.9

These gates were the "soft spots" since the rest of the palace complex is moated and provided with an (ugly) terrorism proof fence. With the underground roadblocks and the glass fence this soft spot is enforced.

Pity that this all is nescesary in this time and age!!

Meanwhile the Palace is occupied by the Royal Family,wonderfull!!

[Duc_et_Pair]

I believe the King's private appartments are ready but the rest is still under last detailing. We have not seen the King receiving guests at Huis ten Bosch, like he did at De Eikenhorst.

Queen Beatrix regularly posed with her guests before the portrait of Amalia von Solms in the Blue Salon. This week the King has received various guests, but all at Noordeinde, in the centre of The Hague.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

I believe the King's private appartments are ready but the rest is still under last detailing. We have not seen the King receiving guests at Huis ten Bosch, like he did at De Eikenhorst.

Queen Beatrix regularly posed with her guests before the portrait of Amalia von Solms in the Blue Salon. This week the King has received various guests, but all at Noordeinde, in the centre of The Hague.

Ofourse that's His official office.

[iceflower]

Here are new photos of the Palace taken today:


** anp gallery ** ppe gallery **


As the media was invited to the Palace today:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 **

[Marengo]

Thanks! What a nice surprise that we get to see the interior, some rooms I hardly recognize. The Chinese room, the Japanese room and the white dining room look wonderful and unchanged, though the first two seem to have more elaborate carpets. The yellow ballroom seems to have more paintings but otherwise looks the same. One of the paintings they moved there is the large portrait of the children of Willem V and the first Wilhelmina of Prussia; it used to be in the Green Salon. I have seen no photos of the small (white) ball room but I hope it was left largely unchanged.

The Green Salon seems to have undergone a metamorphosis. I am not quite sure if it is an improvement. The modern wall paintings are a nice idea but the end result seems rather loud and the room feels messy and crowded. Historical portraits of family members seem to have been removed. I wonder if ANP did not misidentify the room because it looks so much smaller at the moment, though the pattern on the ceiling seems to be the same. On a positive note: the new wall paintings seem to have some funny references to the family, I see f.e. the royal cradle. Perhaps it would look better with less furniture in the room.

The library looks rather uninspiring and is lacking books. I do not like the colour scheme at all.

The red-ish (terra cotta?) colour on the walls of the vestibule actually is an improvement and I also like the new modern chandeliers on the ceiling. I believe they are by Studio Drift as I saw lamps with a simular pattern at their exposition in the Stedelijk Museum.

There are two paintings next to the main doors, which could be the portraits of Frederik-Hendrik and Amalia, who had the palace built. If so it is a fitting tribute indeed. On another wall I see the large portraits of Stadholder Willem II and his wife, the first Mary Stuart. They were already there before the renovation. I assume they kept Willem IV - who had the vestibule built- and Anna of Hannover/ the UK on the opposite wall. IMO the changes in the vestibule are a great improvement as it was looking rather empty and severe, more like a protestant church than a palace.

The King and Queen's offices look well enough but not very palatial. I see that the king has a little portrait of William of Orange in his office.

Apparently there is now a DNA-salon, with the wall pattern echoing DNA patterns of members of the RF, I am not sure what was there before. The room actually looks nicer than one would imagine by the name.

Considering the -IMHO- absolutely ghastly job the National building agency did with the Catshuis (house of the prime minister) we should count our blessings and consider that the end result could have been much worse.

[Duc_et_Pair]

I am not sure what to think about this. I am surprised that the royal couple apparently got so much freedom in the state apartments. I completely understand that the private appartments are completely in private taste, but the state rooms of a monument hors categorie?


I am afraid the royal couple does not have the fine taste of Queen Beatrix, who did a great job at the Royal Palace, at Huis ten Bosch and at Noordeinde.


Especially the office of the King is g h a s t l y. It looks more like the office of the undertaker. And the rape of the Green Salon... Who did they hire for decorating? Elton John? And those ultramodern lightings in a 17th C building?


Maybe I need to see more pictures first but I am not at all impressed.

[Marengo]

I am not sure how much say the couple had over these rooms, it would mostly be the responsibility of the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf. As I said considering the horrendous job they did in the Catshuis they seem to have contained themselves here. Though compared to the restoration of Dam palace -which looks far more palatial these days- it is a big change.

The monumental parts are restored: ceilings, doors, windows and the historic rooms are preserved. In other cases they had more freedom. In the -what ANP names Green- salon the change is the most dramatic. But in the end they will have replaced a historically inspired wallpaper from the 1950s with wall paintings of the present day. No structural damage was done. During a next renovation it can be removed if they so wish.

The offices are nothing special indeed.

Edit: I think that ANP may has made a small error and the 'DNA-room' is the room that was formerly the Green Salon, as it has the same windows and the same fire place. The fire place and the proportions of the new techni-colour wall painting room seems to be the same as the Blue Salon (which btw was not blue but white/silver-ish), with a view to the Princess Garden. At least the Blue salon has some (loud) blue elements now .