Henri M. said:
The Prince and the Princesses have an optimal privacy and family-life in a private villa, surrounded by a vast nature and with a minimum of staff.
Many royals do not live at palaces: the King and Queen of Belgium live at Belvédère, the King & Queen of Spain live at Zarzuela, the Prince of Wales & the Duchess of Cornwall live at Highgrove, the Prince & Princess of Asturias live at the Pabellon del Príncipe, etc. Big houses, but no Royal Palace.
The "Eikenhorst" is in the Royal Domain "De Horsten",once the property of Prince Frederik who bequathed the property to his daughter Marie of Wied who later sold it to Queen Wilhelmina who passed it on to her daughter Queen Juliana....
There used to be an old run down farmhouse on the spot of the Eikenhorst.Princess Christina,HM youngest sister,purchased the property from her mother and had the villa build we know today where she and her family lived until her divorce from Jorge Guillermo,it is the private property of The Prince of Orange now.
The then Princess Beatrix lived at her beloved Drakenstyn for decades,not a Royal Palace either,but it too provided her and her young family with privacy,a rare commodity for Royals usually living in a glass house 24/7.
Besides,Royal palaces are almost impossible to really live in,it might appear to some to be part of what they believe Royals do,in fairytales,but the sheer sizes of each and every room/hall makes a comfy living wishfull thinking.For example,if the Royal Palace at the Dam Square here in Amsterdam is up for another Royal function like an incoming State Visit,it takes 2 weeks to heat up the whole place in order to make each and everyone feeling comfy and warm enough.
Exceptions here are Huis ten Bosch Palace,HM residence,Noordeinde Palace,HM office and Soestdijk Palace when it was still in use as such.
In the latter the late Prince Bernhard had a constant 27.8 degrees celsius in his office,he hated cold or anything under 25 degrees indoors
...but I'm getting way O/T here now....