SASSY said:
In one of Henri's posts he mentioned something about ladies-in-waiting and "hofdames". What is a "hofdame"?
A
hofdame litterally means 'lady from the court'. We also know
dame du palais, which is French and litterally means 'lady from the palace'. These are the Dutch equivalent for a lady-in-waiting, a word which sounds strange in Dutch translation (a lady in waiting means
a pregnant lady in Dutch ears).
Until Queen Beatrix reorganized the Household in the early 1980's, a
hofdame used to be an unmarried lady and a
dame du palais was a married lady. Since the reorganization the Queen has split up her Household in a functional Household and a honorary Household. Her 5 or 6 hofdames belong to the functional Household.
When they leave Her Majesty's daily service, they become a
dame du palais honoraire and are placed in the honorary Household.
The hofdames and the dames du palais are led by the
Grootmeesteres der Koningin (The Queen's Grandmastress) which is for years the rousing and ever royal-looking lady, Martine van Loon - Labouchere formerly Delprat. A most remarkable lady from a renowned Amsterdam old banking family (Labouchere) who married quite young with an old milliardaire Amsterdam shipsowner Delprat, became a dazzling rich widow and remarried the Amsterdam noble Jonkheer Maurits Nanning van Loon.
This Van Loon family is famous for their fantastic little
palazzo alongside one of Amsterdam's main canals, the
House van Loon, and is known by a diairy written by Thora Nanna van Loon - Egidius, Dame du Palais of Queen Wilhelmina. The Grandmastress lives in the house next to the House van Loon, which is now open as a museum.