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Soestdijk Palace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soestdijk Palace is one of the four official palaces of the Dutch royal family. It consists of a central block and two wings.
Although named after the village of Soestdijk, which is largely in the municipality of Soest, the Soestdijk Palace is just north of the border in the municipality of Baarn in the province of Utrecht. It was the home for over six decades of the late Princess Juliana and her husband, the late Prince Bernhard until their deaths in 2004.
The palace originally started as a hunting lodge that was built for Stadhouder William III between 1674 and 1678 by Maurits Post, who was also involved in building two other royal palaces, Huis ten Bosch Palace and Noordeinde Palace. William left the Netherlands in 1688 to reside in London as William III of England.
During the french invasion in 1795, the palace was seized as a spoil of war and turned into an inn for French troops. When Louis Bonaparte became king of Holland, he took possession of it and had it extended and refurbished.
It was presented to William II of the Netherlands in 1815 in recognition of his services at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1842 its contents were enriched by the addition of the neoclassical furnishings of his former palace in Brussels, today the Palais des Académies.
Soestdijk became the property of the State of the Netherlands in 1971, though it was used by Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard as their official residence until both of their deaths in 2004. Soestdjik palace then remainded empty and unused for a bit over a year before its opening to the public. Since spring 2006, it is temporarily possible to visit it, pending a decision about its future use.
| Royal Palaces in the Netherlands |  |
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|---|---|---|
| Official residences: Koninklijk Palace | Noordeinde Palace | Soestdijk Palace | Huis ten Bosch
Former residences: Het Loo | Mauritshuis | Lange Voorhout | Kneuterdijk |
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