I remember thinking during my last visit to The Hague, The Netherlands, last November, that the area in front of the Noordeinde Palace looks a bit shabby. It turns out there were already plans to make changes. Work has started on 15 January and it will likely take a year. There will be more space […]
Last week Kathleen Van Lierop from Belgium on her blog posted “A new, quirky royal statue” in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Not royal you’d say unless you read the whole story and it turns out the two skeletons are actually two countesses from the Middle Ages returning to their city after 800 years. I thought the statue […]
In the weekend of 4 and 5 November the yearly Royal Gatherings in The Hague, organized by the European Royal History Journal and Booksellers Van Hoogstraten, is being held again. Most tourists visiting the Netherlands go straight to Amsterdam. The Hague is not really on the list of many people. But for us royalty watchers […]
From 10 to 12 October 2017 King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands paid a state visit to the former monarchy of Portugal. Among the people invited for the state banquet and the return concert were Dom Duarte, Duke of Bragança – heir to the Portuguese throne – and his wife Doña Isabel. On […]
It maybe isn’t the Glass Coach nor the Golden Carriage, but the Crème Calèche certainly is one of the more known carriages in the Royal Stables of the Netherlands. When the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina turned 18 and ascended the throne, her mother, Queen Emma, bought her a new carriage. Queen Emma’s wish was that the […]
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In 2015 an attempt was made by a London dealer to sell Queen Victoria’s Sapphire and Diamond Coronet to a buyer, who wanted to export the coronet. In August 2016 the British Government put a temporary block on the sale. The Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) […]
What do Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the Dutch beach resort Zandvoort aan Zee have in common, you’d say? Why is the Empress, nicknamed Sisi, remembered here on the Dutch coast? The Dutch doctor Johann Georg Mezger (1838-1909), whose parents originally were from Württemberg, Germany, studied medicine and graduated in 1868. He specialized in physiotherapy […]
He already held Nassau Walks and Maria Louise Walks through the centre of the city of Leeuwarden, the capital of the Province of Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. On 5 August Bearn Bilker – a known Dutch royalty-expert – led the very first Anna van Hannover Walk, about his favourite Frisian Nassau. It […]
Although I have visited London several times over the years, I had never been to the Royal Mews. I can only say: if you have time, just go there. I visited on a very quiet Monday afternoon in May 2017 and really loved my visit. Not a lot of visitors around, so I had all […]
Inside the complex
You might have heard already, but this Summer, as last year, the Noordeinde Palace and the Royal Stables open their gates again. The Palace opened its doors on Saturday 15 July 2017, and the three Saturdays afterwards. Like last year, the tickets were sold out within a day. The Stables can be visited for three […]
