Dutch Royal Carriages, Cars, Ships and Airplanes

[iceflower]

The video message provided by the Palace:

 

[Marengo]

He is right, the carriage and thus the monarchy will become a polarizing object and demonstrations could be expected whenever the thing would be in use. And the monarchy can not be in the middle of a divisive cultural debate.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Its the right decision can you imagine red paint or attacks on the Golden Carriage had it been used again.

 

[Stefan]

He is right, the carriage and thus the monarchy will become a polarizing object and demonstrations could be expected whenever the thing would be in use. And the monarchy can not be in the middle of a divisive cultural debate.

But it still a pity Perhaps it would have been better to replace the paintings with something neutral during the restoration.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

But it still a pity Perhaps it would have been better to replace the paintings with something neutral during the restoration.

The panels could have been removed and then the carriage doors just in plain gold, eventually with arms or crowns on it. But the King, a historian himself, found this a falsification of history. The carriage was created in an era in which the Netherlands were a colonial power. And the nation was immensely proud. Back then images of coloured people from the East and the West offering gifts to the Motherland were seen as an allegory.

Hard to defend in 2022 but the King, owner of the carriage, thougt removing the panels is taking away the historicity and provenance of the object. It is a pity because the King ordered an extensive restoration, not for museal preservation but for practical use, which tripled the prize tag. Now the carriage is as new, in perfect state to be pulled by horses but it most likely it will never be used again.

Or Princess Catharina-Amalia should request to have it used as a bridal carriage, with the panels removed. But I assume she has the same opinion as her father, about the authenicity of this artwork.

 

[Muhler]

Yes, history is history for better or worse. Sometimes to proud of, sometimes painful, sometimes embarrassing but it should never be altered (as we see with new "modern" edition of literary classics) or hidden away. - Otherwise we forget.

And one day it's forever 1984...

 

[Saragli]

Seems all quite silly to me, and a waste of money. There's no reason why the panels can't be placed in a museum for their history and art to be appreciated and dissected while keeping the coach in service. Why not launch a national competition to design new panels with today's understanding of the Netherlands past, present, and future? Can't quite understand the King's stance on this.

 

[Marengo]

It is probably the route that gives the least public discussion? Creating new panels will lead to accusations of falsifying history etc. & the topic will pop up more frequently. This is the quickest way to burry the discussion all together.

Considering the King released a video statement - something that has not been done before apart from the Greek mea culpa- he must find it important to make his argumentation clear.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Seems all quite silly to me, and a waste of money. There's no reason why the panels can't be placed in a museum for their history and art to be appreciated and dissected while keeping the coach in service. Why not launch a national competition to design new panels with today's understanding of the Netherlands past, present, and future? Can't quite understand the King's stance on this.

Most likely the King likes the current main gala berline from 1821 (see picture) the best, it has been restored as well in a splendid state.

Plus there are other ceremonial carriages, also restored in splendid state (nine gala berlines and four gala coupés) aside open carriages like calèches, landauers, barouches, etc. Probably the King is not waiting for eternal discussions about this specific carriage (see picture)?

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Since years Audi is the usual choice by the Royal Mews. And an operation has started to replace all regular cars with plug-in hybride versions. So also Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix: both have a new, plug-in hybride, Audi A8 60 TFSI e quattro: picture.

King Willem-Alexander still drives in an extended Audi A8 L 4.2 TDI Quattro ( picture ). Not yet in a hybrid or electric version. It seems the King's car is heavier armoured than the ones by Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix. Not because their lifes are worth less but sometimes a foreign head of state joins the King in his car on their way to an engagement, for an example during State Visits.

There are 30 cars -mainly Audi- in use by the Royal Mews, for transport of members of the Royal House, for use by members of the Household and for transport of royal guests. The cars used by the Royal- and Diplomatic Protection Service (also Audi) are no part of the Royal Mews but are part of the fleet of the National Police.

The private cars of the members of the Royal House are no part of the fleet of the Royal Mews. In private the King drives in a fully electric Tesla Model X.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Interesting to know, thank you.

It seems the King's car is heavier armoured than the ones by Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix. Not because their lifes are worth less but sometimes a foreign head of state joins the King in his car on their way to an engagement, for an example during State Visits.

Interesting; apparently the life of a foreign head of state is worth more than the king's own life.

 

[Marengo]

Researches of the Amsterdam Museum have discovered that the gold that was used on the Golden Carriage came from Suriname. The country was a Dutch colony at the time.

Archives about the origin of the gold have been lost, though there have been strong rumours that the gold came from that country.

It is known that the wood of the carriage came from Java, the flax comes from Zeeland, ivory from Sumatra and the leather comes from Brabant.

It is still unclear from what mine the gold was extracted, what the working conditions of the workers were and if the gold was paid for.

https://www.trouw.nl/binnenland/gou...ocht~bb5da152/?referrer=https://www.bing.com/

https://www.msn.com/nl-nl/nieuws/bi...de-gouden-koets-komt-uit-suriname/ar-AA11IQx6

 

[Marengo]

On July 12th the royal train will be handed over to the Railway museum in Utrecht.
The train was in use from 1993 and last used during the state visit to Belgium.
A new train will not be commissioned.

Koninklijke trein krijgt vanaf volgende week plekje in Spoorwegmuseum

De koninklijke trein krijgt vanaf vrijdag 12 juli een plekje in het Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht. NS-directeur Wouter Koolmees zal de SR10, zoals het rijtuig heet, dan officieel overdragen aan het museum. De trein moet om 11.29 uur aankomen, meldt het museum in een aankondiging.

www.rtl.nl

 

[tommy100]

I'd love to see this as a cost cutting measure but it seems the King & Queen hardly use it anyway and prefer to use the royal jet - probably so the King can keep his flying hours up.

 

[Marengo]

I think the use is simply to complicated and the thing was seldom used due to practicalities. The railroad scheduele is tight in our area of Europe. It will bring extra complications in terms of security, it is more complicated to reach a destination and so on. The Netherlands is small, this particular train will seldom be quicker than a car. And the maintenance costs will indeed be significant.

 

[Somebody]

I agree that it makes little sense to keep it. Last time they used it was to travel to their skiing holiday (which was more symbolic than practical) and before that to travel to Denmark when flights were cancelled because of the volcano eruption in Iceland - but assuming the cost to keep it up and running are significant, that’s not worth it.