Dedicating a whole issue to The Hague without mentioning its fanciest inhabitants would be lèse-majesté, an offense we at BAISmag take very seriously. So, let’s do what a loyal subject would do, and gossip about the Dutch royal family. Here are ten fun facts about them:
- They’ve almost continuously lived in The Hague for four hundred years
Almost, because there were two periods when they didn’t. Queen Juliana (1948-80) famously deserted The Hague for the more peaceful Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, which meant that for over three decades, The Hague became de stad van de lege paleizen, the city of empty palaces. In 1981, with Queen Beatrix moving the court back to the city, The Hague got its title of royal city back and kept it until 2013, when Beatrix abdicated in favor of her son Willem Alexander. The King went on to spend the first few years of his reign residing at the Wassenaar Eikenhorst estate, while the Huis ten Bosch Palace underwent a 63 million euros renovation. Since 2019, the royal family has moved back to The Hague, and currently resides at Haagse Bos’s Huis ten Bosch Palace, while attending to their royal duties at Noordeinde Palace.
- They once triggered a massive squatter riot
Speaking of expensive renovations, the 1980 make-over of Noordeinde Palace and the Amsterdam Royal Palace did not sit very well with the Dutchies. If you’ve visited enough student bar toilets, you might have seen stickers saying geen woning, geen kroning, no home, no coronation. The slogan, still very popular at housing-crisis protests, refers to one of the biggest squatter riots in Dutch history, which happened in reaction to the decision to spend taxpayers money on renovating two out of the three royal palaces in the middle of a very acute housing shortage, instead of investing that money in new affordable housing.
- They’ve just got themselves a royal raise…
In 2024, the royal family’s budget will increase by 11%, reaching a staggering 55 million euros. This makes the Dutch monarchy the second most expensive one in Europe, after the British one. The pay rise, which was motivated by inflation, will be the highest since King Alexander’s coronation in 2013.
- …but they might need to start paying taxes on it
The King loves all of his subjects equally- well, except for the subject of tax. Infamously, the Dutch royals are exempted from paying taxes on their allowance, inheritance, and most of their assets. However, after decades of national debates on this, we might be nearing a turning point: in January, both chambers of the Dutch parliament passed a motion to modify the constitution to tax the royal family’s income. While this move won’t automatically translate into new legislation, it does bring the royals’ deep pockets a lot closer to the Dutch taxpayers’ reach.
- King Willem Alexander spent some two decades being high
…in the sky. After a turbulent youth which had earned him the nickname of Prins Pils (Lager Prince), the King worked as a guest pilot for KLM for around twenty years, and still does occasionally. After all, KLM stands for Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, Royal Dutch Airlines, not Peasant Dutch Airlines.
- Princess Amalia is the first to be allowed to marry someone of the same sex and serve in the army
Not that she’s expressed an interest in doing either of those things, but well, for the first time in history, she can. Her subjects, however, might be more interested in another historic first regarding Amalia: she was the first Dutch royal ever to renounce her allowance, although temporarily. In 2021, upon turning 18, she announced that she would not accept her yearly 1.6 million euros allowance until after her university graduation, when she’ll start fulfilling her royal duties full-time.
- The King recently apologized for the crown’s colonial-era involvement in slavery
Last June, speaking on the 160th anniversary of abolition of slavery in the Netherlands, King Willem Alexander apologized for his family’s colonial and racist history, as well as its involvement in slavery. The apology fell short of mentioning any intention of providing reparations, but it was nonetheless a historic moment.
- The Dutch still like their monarchy, more or less
Apologetic or not, the monarchy is having an increasingly hard time winning over their subjects’ hearts. According to a September 2023 survey by Ipsos, the percentage of Dutchies who want to keep the monarchy is slowly but surely declining, and is now down to 50%, with 26% saying they wish the Netherlands became a republic. While the approval rating is still too high to expect any major changes in the short term, a crown-less future is not a far-fetched vision anymore.
- There is a whole organization devoted to abolishing the monarchy
You know who didn’t shed a tear looking at the King’s declining approval rates? Republiek, the biggest organization working towards abolishing the monarchy in the Netherlands. Instead, they want to install a parliamentary republic. Active since 1998, in 2022 they unsuccessfully sued the Dutch government and the King himself over his role in the Dutch legal system, which they say violates Articles 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the one guaranteeing fair trial rights.
- You can take a walking tour of Royal The Hague, for now
It appears that the monarchy is not going anywhere for the time being, and neither are its landmarks, so while you can you should take the “royal walk”: a 3.38 kilometers route across seventeen symbolic spots of royal The Hague. You can find it at deenhaag.com, the website in charge of promoting tourism in The Hague.
– Beatrice Scali
BAISmag 
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