The Palace of Soestdijk

On wednesdy 24 febr. 2010 my wife and I visited the Palace of Soestdijk in Soestdijk (Holland, near Utrecht).

This palace is build in 1649 and bougt by the Dutch Royal Family of Oranje in 1674.
One of the former owners was the later King Willem II of Holland.
He fought at Quatre Bras and in Waterloo.
He was wounded there and later called 'Hero of Waterloo'.
There is in the Palce a Waterloo-room with a six bij four meter painting of the event.
You may not take pictures of it.
I ask the tourguide if there is any portrait, painting, drawing of an object of Napoleon.
There is not, even not in the cellars or in any other depot.

Untill 1937 the Palace was only a countryhouse.
But from 1937 till 2004 the Dutch queen Juliana and her husband Prins Bernard were living there.
Both died there in that year and are burried in Delft, where most of the kings and queens of Oranje rest.

Now the Palace is during three years opened for the public.
You have to get your ticket by internet. Groups are only 15 persons.
It was very nice to see all.

One km from the Palace you can see an obilisk. It is erected as a memory for the start of the kingdom of Holland in 1815. We could not walk to is, because it was just heavy raining at that moment.
I will do that later.