From 3 August the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague (as well as the stables) are open again for four Saturdays. If you don’t have a ticket: there are still tickets for the mews, not for the palace, as again they sold in one day. On Friday I attended a media preview of this working palace of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, and will revisit on 17 August. I visited the palace three years ago, in the first year of the summer opening, and had a look at the stables two years ago. If you haven’t managed to visit the palace yet, please try next year (you need a bit of patience and be quick tough).
There is so much to write and tell about this palace, that I will certainly post more than once. One of the rooms you can visit is the Gallery Room, the second longest room in the palace. Up to 74 people can have dinner in this room, that doesn’t really look that big, but clearly is. One long wall has windows, while the other is decorated with five huge portraits (275 x 175 cm) painted by Jean-Baptiste van der Hulst between 1830 and 1836. The portraits show King Willem II, Queen Anna Pavlovna, Prince Frederik, Princess Luise and her daughter Princess Louise, and Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. Unlike three years ago, there was no dinner table set in this room during this visit, so I could admire the portraits.
Although all of them are gorgeous, and the jewelry is splendidly painted, the one of the two Louises really stands out to me. Not only because of the young girl on the painting, but also because of the lovely jewelry, which many of you might recognise instantly. The tiara really hasn’t changed a lot, has it?
In case you haven’t guessed yet: it is the Pearl Poiré Tiara that Queen Margrethe II of Denmark loves to wear. The tiara was likely a wedding gift for Princess Luise of Prussia, who in 1825 married Prince Frederik of the Netherlands. It was made with diamonds and 18 drop pearls. When Luise died in 1870 she left the tiara to her daughter, who by the time had become Queen Louise of Sweden. Unfortunately Louise died in 1871 and left it in her turn to another Louise. Her daughter in 1869 had married the future King Frederik VIII of Denmark. Since it has been in the possession of the Danish royal family. On the portrait Luise also wears the brooch with five pearl pendants that also has been worn by the Danish queens.
More about the history of the tiara: