Soestdijk Palace

Initially built around 1650 as a country residence, this has experienced many changes and many residents.

Stadholder Willem III lived in the house from 1647 and had it expanded into a hunting lodge. In 1702 the Frisian stadtholder Johan Willem Friseo Soestdijk and he used it mainly as a summer residence.

During the French war, Soestdijk Palace was confiscated by the patriots as spoils of war in 1795. Louis Bonaparte, the brother of the French Emperor Napoleon, took possession of it in 1806 and had a new extension built to the palace. He used it until 1810.

After the liberation from French rule, the palace was expanded with two wings on either side of the main building with characteristic semicircular colonnades.

The palace was given by the Dutch people to William II of the Netherlands as a tribute to his efforts in the battles of QuatreBras and Waterloo (in which he was wounded in the shoulder), and thus inhabited in the summer by William II and his wife Anna Paulowna, who redecorated it. Queen Mother Emma used Soestdijk Palace as a summer residence until her death in 1934.

After the death of Queen Mother Emma, the palace was extensively renovated to serve as a residence for Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard.

In 1937, Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard moved into the palace. For the first time in its history, it became the home of a young family. All princesses, with the exception of Princess Margriet, were born on Soestdijk.

Since the death of Prince Bernhard, the palace has been empty. In October 2005, the palace was handed over to the state. On 24 April 2006 it was announced that Soestdijk Palace will be opened for a period of three years. This opening is still ongoing.

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