Princesses critical of plans to cut trees and buildings at Soestdijk Palace

[Principessa]

https://nos.nl/artikel/23...bij-paleis-soestdijk.html


Princesses critical of plans to cut trees and buildings at Soestdijk Palace

Princess Irene and Princess Margriet (RED: younger sisters of Princess Beatrix) are against the roof of the so-called Borrebos near Soestdijk Palace and the plan for housing on the former grounds of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. In a letter, the princesses write "shocked" by the plans of the new owner of the estate.

"At a time when possibilities are being sought for planting forests, cutting down trees is at least undesirable. And certainly not buildings in an old forest area," said the princesses.

Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard lived in Soestdijk Palace from 1937 until their death in 2004. Three of the four daughters of the royal couple were born there. In 2017, the MeyerBergman Heritage Group bought the estate in order to realize a hotel, catering and housing, among other things. With the sale of apartments, the real estate company says it wants to finance the renovation of the palace.

The princesses write that their grandmother and mother attached great importance to preserving the forest as much as possible and that they fully support it. "We support those who want to protect the Borrebos and add that we also think it is important to give nature back to itself on the former barracks site," writes Princess Irene, also on behalf of her sister.

Decision next week

The city council of Baarn will make a decision next week about the preliminary design of the zoning plan for the Soestdijk estate. Councilor Kees Koudstaal of the local party BOP asked the princesses for a response to the plans. He read the letter he received from the sisters in the council last night, reports RTV Utrecht.


Soestdijk Palace (Dutch: Paleis Soestdijk):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soestdijk_Palace

[anastasia beaverhausen]

https://nos.nl/artikel/23...bij-paleis-soestdijk.html


Princesses critical of plans to cut trees and buildings at Soestdijk Palace

Princess Irene and Princess Margriet (RED: younger sisters of Princess Beatrix) are against the roof of the so-called Borrebos near Soestdijk Palace and the plan for housing on the former grounds of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. In a letter, the princesses write "shocked" by the plans of the new owner of the estate.

"At a time when possibilities are being sought for planting forests, cutting down trees is at least undesirable. And certainly not buildings in an old forest area," said the princesses.

Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard lived in Soestdijk Palace from 1937 until their death in 2004. Three of the four daughters of the royal couple were born there. In 2017, the MeyerBergman Heritage Group bought the estate in order to realize a hotel, catering and housing, among other things. With the sale of apartments, the real estate company says it wants to finance the renovation of the palace.

The princesses write that their grandmother and mother attached great importance to preserving the forest as much as possible and that they fully support it. "We support those who want to protect the Borrebos and add that we also think it is important to give nature back to itself on the former barracks site," writes Princess Irene, also on behalf of her sister.

Decision next week

The city council of Baarn will make a decision next week about the preliminary design of the zoning plan for the Soestdijk estate. Councilor Kees Koudstaal of the local party BOP asked the princesses for a response to the plans. He read the letter he received from the sisters in the council last night, reports RTV Utrecht.


Soestdijk Palace (Dutch: Paleis Soestdijk):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soestdijk_Palace

I certainly agree with the sentiment, but I wonder if there were conditions attached to the sale regarding property development?  It’s so unfortunate that beautiful old trees are knocked down for a housing project, but if you sell you don’t have much control over what happens.

[Principessa]

https://nos.nl/artikel/23...bij-paleis-soestdijk.html


Princesses critical of plans to cut trees and buildings at Soestdijk Palace

Princess Irene and Princess Margriet (RED: younger sisters of Princess Beatrix) are against the roof of the so-called Borrebos near Soestdijk Palace and the plan for housing on the former grounds of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. In a letter, the princesses write "shocked" by the plans of the new owner of the estate.

"At a time when possibilities are being sought for planting forests, cutting down trees is at least undesirable. And certainly not buildings in an old forest area," said the princesses.

Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard lived in Soestdijk Palace from 1937 until their death in 2004. Three of the four daughters of the royal couple were born there. In 2017, the MeyerBergman Heritage Group bought the estate in order to realize a hotel, catering and housing, among other things. With the sale of apartments, the real estate company says it wants to finance the renovation of the palace.

The princesses write that their grandmother and mother attached great importance to preserving the forest as much as possible and that they fully support it. "We support those who want to protect the Borrebos and add that we also think it is important to give nature back to itself on the former barracks site," writes Princess Irene, also on behalf of her sister.

Decision next week

The city council of Baarn will make a decision next week about the preliminary design of the zoning plan for the Soestdijk estate. Councilor Kees Koudstaal of the local party BOP asked the princesses for a response to the plans. He read the letter he received from the sisters in the council last night, reports RTV Utrecht.


Soestdijk Palace (Dutch: Paleis Soestdijk):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soestdijk_Palace

I certainly agree with the sentiment, but I wonder if there were conditions attached to the sale regarding property development?  It’s so unfortunate that beautiful old trees are knocked down for a housing project, but if you sell you don’t have much control over what happens.

The online articles (in Dutch, on Dutch sites) contain a lot of negative comments, at least when I looked yesterday. Specifically aimed at Margriet and her 2nd son Bernhard. The latter is apparently an owner of many real estate in Amsterdam and the surrounding area. In addition, he owns the Dutch race circuit in Zandvoort through his company. On May 14, 2019, it was announced that there will be motorsport at the highest level again from 2020 through the Formula 1 championships. Bernard was the driving force behind the reintroduction of car racing at Zandvoort. Despite the effect of the entire circus on the surrounding nature and infrastructure. This didn't seemed (and still does not seem) to matter. We have not heard Margriet about that whole topic either, so that she is now talking about nature conservation sounds hypocritical.

[Paulina]

Interestinggggg. Well, perhaps she should not have sold her childhood home.

[Principessa]

Interestinggggg. Well, perhaps she should not have sold her childhood home.

It was already owned by the Dutch State, since the 1970s. They have sold it in 2017.

"...Soestdijk Palace is a palace at Amsterdamsestraatweg 1 in Baarn. The original 17th-century building is named after the Soestdijk, along which the hamlet of Soestdijk was also created. From 1937 it was the residence of crown princess and later Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Bernhard van Lippe-Biesterfeld. From late 1970 to 2017, it was owned by the Dutch State..."

"..During the period of the Marijnen cabinet (1963-1965), there were already plans that the State of the Netherlands would purchase Soestdijk Palace, because of the high maintenance costs. [4] In 1967, for example, they amounted to 450,000 guilders. [5] Ultimately, during the cabinet period of Prime Minister De Jong (1967-1971), the government wanted to definitively purchase the palace and surrounding grounds. There were amounts that the palace with a value of 70-75 hectares of land would have a value of ten to twenty million guilders. Because of expected public criticism, the cabinet was reluctant to put such amounts on the table. According to the Ministry of Finance, because of the high maintenance costs, the palace even had a negative value and advised not to offer more than one to three million guilders. De Jong did not want to go beyond one million guilders. Juliana asked 3.3 million guilders at the end of October 1967. A binding valuation was then decided. In September 1970 this came to 4.29 million guilders. [4] Finally, Soestdijk Palace was sold to the State of the Netherlands at the end of 1970 for an amount of exactly 4.2 million guilders. At the same time, it was established that Juliana and Bernhard could continue to live in the palace even after Juliana stepped down as queen. [6].."