A Royal hunting lodge

Third day of the in-law weekend had a royal touch..
We all went to Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn.

Het Loo Palace was built in 1685 at the behest of Stadholder William III (later King William of England). It is located on Het Loo Royal Estate, which is also the site of Het Oude Loo Hunting Lodge.


"Het Oude Loo" hunting lodge (photo) is located on Het Loo Royal Estate in Apeldoorn. It is used by the royal family as a country house and guest residence. Het Oude Loo, which is a listed building, has been state property since 1968. The King rents Het Oude Loo from the state of the Netherlands.

The oldest reference to Het Oude Loo is from 1439, when it belonged to a certain Udo Talholt. Stadholder William III bought the hunting lodge in 1684 from Johan van Ulft and built a new palace on the grounds, Het Loo Palace.

In the French period Het Oude Loo became state property, and French soldiers were billeted there. When Louis Bonaparte became King of Holland, he had the canal around the lodge filled in. When he was a child, it had been prophesied that he would drown, and he did everything he could to prevent that prediction from coming true.

After the French period King Willem III spent much of his time at Het Oude Loo. Queen Wilhelmina had the property restored by J.P.H. Cuypers in 1904. The canal that had been filled in was redug. In 1968 C.W. Royaards was hired to carry out a further restoration, in which he undid much of Cuypers's work. After Royaards's death J.B. Baron van Asbeck completed the restoration of both Het Oude Loo and Het Loo Palace.