Drakensteyn Castle (Dutch: ''Drakensteyn'', sometimes ''Drakesteijn'' or ''Drakestein'') is a small castle at 8 Slotlaan in the hamlet of

Lage Vuursche Lage Vuursche () is a village in the municipality of Baarn in the Netherlands. It lies about west of Soest (Netherlands), Soest, surrounded by woods, in the province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. In 2001 the village of Lage Vuursche had 139 in ...

, in the municipality of

Baarn Baarn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, near Hilversum in the province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The municipality of Baarn The municipality of Baarn consists of the following towns: Baarn, Eembrugge, Lage Vuursche. T ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is the private residence of Princess

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born ...

, the country's former Queen. The royal connection aside, its most distinctive feature is its

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al shape. It is surrounded by a moat that can be crossed via a bridge. Its style can be described as

Classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

History

A house called Drakesteijn at this location was first mentioned in 1360, but the current building was constructed in the years 1640–1643 for a Gerard van Reede Läm. In 1634 Drakensteyn was passed to Ernst van Reede. In the 17th and 18th centuries the castle changed hands several times. The mayor of Utrecht, Paulus Wilhelmus Bosch became the owner of Drakensteyn Castle from 1807 and he and his family owned the house for 150 years until Frederik Lodewijk Bosch van Drakestein sold it to Princess Beatrix. Nearby, at 4 Kloosterlaan, is the similarly-named Klein Drakesteijn ("Little Drakesteijn"), which was built in 1780.

Royal residence

Princess Beatrix bought the castle in 1959, when she was the heir to the Dutch throne, and took up residence in 1963 after a programme of renovations. After her marriage in 1966 she continued to live there with her husband,

Prince Claus Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg (born Klaus-Georg Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg; 6 September 1926 – 6 October 2002) was Prince consort of the Netherlands, Prince of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until his d ...

and raised their three sons there. After Beatrix succeeded her mother

Juliana Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, whi ...

as Queen of the Netherlands in 1980, the family moved to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in 1981. On 28 January 2013, it was announced that Beatrix would again take up residence at the castle after her abdication later that year. Her son,

Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

, was installed on the Dutch throne on 30 April 2013. On 2 February 2014, Beatrix moved into the castle.

References

External links

Page on the Royal House site
{{Royal palaces in the Netherlands , state=expanded Houses completed in 1640 Castles in Utrecht (province) Rijksmonuments in Utrecht (province) Baarn 1640 establishments in the Dutch Republic Palaces in the Netherlands Baroque palaces in the Netherlands Royal residences in the Netherlands

History

Royal residence

See also

References

External links