The Dutch Royal Information Service (RVD) announced that starting next week, Het Houde Loo Palace will be open to house Ukrainian refugees.
In a press release, the Royal House stated that 32 people would be welcomed to the palace – specifically 15 women, 12 children and five men.
The welcoming of the refugees into the structure will be handled by the COA, the local volunteer service, who will also enforce the closure of the local gardens to afford privacy to the new residents.
The RVD also released some images of the newly refurbished castle, including pictures of common areas and a video showing the inside of one of the bedrooms.
The welcoming of refugees to the palace was announced in mid-March by the Central Government Real Estate Agency, which technically owns all royal properties.
For that move to be made, however, the agency needed permission from King Willem-Alexander, as he is considered the tenant of the structure. The King happily granted permission, and refugees can move in next week.
Het Oude Loo Palace is nestled in beautiful gardens in the Apeldoorn area and is a 15th-century castle. Originally, the structure had many uses, including as an apothecary for the royals.
Although built originally with the castle, the surrounding moat was only filled in when it fell in the hands of Louis Napoleon, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1904, Queen Wilhelmina tasked architect Pierre Cuypers with the restoration of the castle. A controversial figure, Cuypers decided to fuse old and new instead of trying to bring the castle back to its original state, which explains, among other things, the addition of previously inexistent towers.
Nowadays, the Royal Family still uses the castle as a holiday residence and a guest house. Most notably, in 2006, the castle was home to Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako of Japan, now Emperor and Empress, while on a private visit to the Netherlands with their daughter, Princess Aiko.
