Our World Tuesday., ABC Wednesday, S for Soestdijk Palace

 

We do not know how old the palace is.We do know that it was bought by Cornelis de Graeff mayor of Amsterdam in 1638.  Mary Stuart  married stadtholder Willem III of Orange. She was a daughter of the English King James II. She and Willem III became the ruling couple William III and Mary II, who died in 1694 and William died in 1702. They had no children.

They were the first members of the House of Orange to live at Soestdijk Palace. The princes of Orange were stadtholders till Napoleon was defeated. His brother had been proclaimed king of the Netherlands in 1806. So our first king was a Bonaparte, a Frenchman.

As soon as William of Orange, who had spent his exile in England, returned to the Netherlands after the defeat of Napoleon,  the Dutch wanted him to become king of the Netherlands and Belgium, which became independent later.

 The kingdom of the Netherlands is now 200 years old and has known seven ruling monarchs: first three kings, then three queens and now a king again.

Queen Juliana, grandmother of our king, had lived in Soestdijk until she died. Her children had lived in this palace until they got married. Queen Beatrix, mother of our king, abdicated in 2013 in favour of her son Willem Alexander, who lives in a palace in the Hague.

We don't know what is going to happen with this beautiful palace.

 

 Diningroom

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our  logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar. Thank you Team of O. W. T.!

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with S.