History
Soestdijk Palace has a centuries-old history. Read how a hunting lodge of a mayor grew into the residence and eventually the home of the royal family.
Lodge
Around 1650, an Amsterdam mayor had a hunting lodge built between Soest and Baarn. The young stadtholder Willem III, an avid hunter, bought the farmstead on the Zoestdijck in 1674. The stadtholders hunted there, their widows spent their summers there. In 1795, the family lost the hunting lodge. Under French influence, Soestdijk was 'nationalized'. It even briefly became a French barracks.
In 1815 everything was different again. The French were gone, the Netherlands was a kingdom and the crown prince – the later King William II – was given the hunting lodge as a gift for his performance in his battles against the French.
Summer Palace
The Crown Prince and his Russian wife, Princess Anna Paulowna, had Soestdijk converted into a real summer palace. Two side wings were added and everything was decorated according to the taste of the time – in Empire style. Even after them, the royal family continued to use the palace as a summer residence. Queen Mother Emma in particular liked to come there. In 1928, she received a special gift for her 70th birthday: electric light at Soestdijk Palace.
Soestdijk Palace was only permanently inhabited from 1937, when Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard moved in after their wedding. The Dutch people had offered the couple a renovation as a National Tribute. The palace was given central heating and a comfortable, modern apartment at the rear.
Royal residence
In 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Until the liberation in 1945, the princely family fled abroad. Soestdijk Palace once again housed foreign soldiers, this time German officers.
After the liberation, the family returned and in 1948 Princess Juliana succeeded her mother Wilhelmina as queen. Soestdijk Palace thus became the royal residence. The festive parades that were taken by the entire royal family on the steps on Queen's Day are unforgettable.
Residential and work palace
When Princess Beatrix was inaugurated as queen in 1980, Soestdijk Palace ceased to be a royal residence. Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard continued to live there until their deaths in 2004. In 1971, the palace became State property. As of December 2017, after a very extensive selection procedure, MeyerBergman Heritage Group the new owner of the palace and estate.