Royal Waiting Room
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A royal waiting room is a space at a
train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...
set up for use by a royal family when they travel by train. According to protocol, a monarch never has to wait. So when they arrive somewhere, everything is already ready. However, this is not feasible when traveling by train. Stations are needed for regular train services and it is therefore not possible for royal trains to be placed along platforms for a royal family in advance. That is why some stations are equipped with a
waiting room A waiting room or waiting hall is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment for which they are waiting begins. There are two types of physical waiting room. One has in ...
with some comfort and sufficient
privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
. These waiting rooms are often found in stations near
royal palaces A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
. Since royal persons started traveling by train in the second half of the 19th century, both royal
private railroad car A private railroad car, private railway coach, private car, or private varnish is a railroad Passenger railroad car, passenger car either originally built or later converted for service as a business car for private individuals. A private car cou ...
s and waiting rooms became available for them. When representative new stations were built near a palace during this period, royal waiting rooms were often built within them.


Belgium

Brussels-Central railway station Brussels-Central railway station (; ) is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, Belgium. It is the second busiest railway station in Belgium and one of three principal railway stations in Brussels, together with Brussels-South and ...
in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
still has a royal waiting room. The room is rarely used by the Belgian monarchy and has transferred ownership to the
National Railway Company of Belgium The National Railway Company of Belgium (, NMBS; , SNCB; ) is the national railway company of Belgium. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by Henry van de Ve ...
. Since then, the room has also been used for lectures and other socio-cultural activities. Other stations in Belgium with royal waiting rooms were
Brussels-North railway station Brussels-North railway station (; ) is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels, Belgium; the other two are Brussels Central Station, Brussels-Central and Brussels-South railway station, Brussels-South. Every regular domestic and i ...
and
Brussels-South railway station Brussels-South railway station, also known as Brussels-Midi railway station (; ), is a major railway station in Brussels, Belgium. Geographically, it is located in Saint-Gilles, Belgium, Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis on the border with the adjacent ...
.


Denmark

In
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, three stations have a royal waiting room: *
Copenhagen Central Station Copenhagen Central Station (, ; abbreviated ''København H'', colloquially usually referred to as ''Hovedbanegården'' or simply ''Hovedbanen'') is the Central station, main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station ...
* Fredensborg railway station * Gråsten railway station (no longer in use)


The Netherlands

The royal waiting rooms in the
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 ...
are owned by
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (, , NS ) is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight operato ...
(Dutch Railways), not by the
Dutch monarchy The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; the roles and duties of the monarch; the formalities of communica ...
. They are part of the country's cultural heritage, so sometimes the rooms are opened for meetings, receptions or viewings. The following Dutch stations have or had a royal waiting room: * Amsterdam Centraal (1889–present; near
Royal Palace of Amsterdam The Royal Palace of Amsterdam in Amsterdam (Dutch: ''Koninklijk Paleis van Amsterdam'' or ) is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which are at the disposal of the monarch by Act of Parliament. It is situated on the west side of Dam Square ...
; entrance side doors permanently opened with glass facades added for public viewing in 2018) *
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 ...
(1874–present; near Soestdijk Palace; completely restored in May 2014)Royal waiting room Baarn open
www.nos.nl, 16 May 2014. * Den Haag HS (1893–present; near
Huis ten Bosch Huis ten Bosch (, ; ) is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Huis ten Bosch was th ...
and
Noordeinde Palace Noordeinde Palace (, ) is one of three official palaces of the Dutch Royal House, Dutch royal family. Located in the city center of The Hague in the province of South Holland, it has been used as the official workplace of King Willem-Alexander of ...
; consists of seven rooms with a spacious staircase and vestibule) * Den Haag SS (1870–1973; room dismantled and stored in 1973; on display in the
Railway Museum (Netherlands) The Railway Museum () in Utrecht (city), Utrecht is the Netherlands, Dutch national railway museum. It was established in 1927 and since 1954 has been housed in the former Maliebaan station. History The museum was established in 1927 and was in ...
in
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
since the early 2000s) *
Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...
(1876–1976; near
Het Loo Palace Paleis Het Loo ( , meaning "The wikt:lea#English, Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau. History The symmetry, symmetrical Dutch Baroque architecture, Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman ...
; room demolished in 1976) *
Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...
(1894–1944; ferry service to the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
; destroyed in a bombing raid in 1944) File:centraal2.jpg, Exterior of the royal pavilion of Amsterdam Centraal station File:In Amsterdam (9292004033).jpg, Entrance to the royal waiting room at Amsterdam Centraal station File:Voor- en linkerzijgevel station Baarn - Baarn - 20027257 - RCE.jpg, Exterior of the royal waiting room at Baarn railway station File:WLM - roel1943 - Koninklijke wachtkamer rode loper.jpg, Royal waiting room at the first platform of Den Haag HS File:Interieur, overzicht van de schouw met schouwstuk in de koninklijke wachtkamer - Utrecht - 20389848 - RCE.jpg, Royal waiting room from Den Haag SS on display in the Railway Museum (Netherlands)


Royal usage

In principle, the royal waiting rooms are used by members of the royal house and their guests. One of the last times Queen Beatrix used the waiting room at Den Haag HS station (Hollands Spoor) was on 31 October 2004, when she visited Breda with the Polish president to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Breda's liberation by the Polish army. On Saturday 16 June 2007, Queen Beatrix used this waiting room when she travelled by royal train to Barendrecht station for the opening of the Betuweroute. On 31 March 2011, this room was opened to the public when the Freedom Train was christened in the presence of Prince Willem-Alexander. On 15 February 2013, the same waiting room was used by Prince Willem-Alexander and his family prior to a winter sports trip to Lech in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
with a royal private railroad car coupled to the Alpenexpress. On 27 April 2017, the waiting room was again used by the now King Willem-Alexander and his family prior to King's Day 2017 in Tilburg, where they travelled by train.


United Kingdom

A number of stations in the United Kingdom are equipped with royal waiting rooms. All rooms are located in or near stations located at royal residences. The following British stations had a royal waiting room: *
Ballater railway station Ballater railway station is a former station in the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was formerly the terminus of a branch line from Aberdeen. It was the nearest station to Balmoral Castle, a personal residence of the ...
, in
Ballater Ballater (, ) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at an elevation of , Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula. ...
near the holiday home
Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...
*
Windsor & Eton Riverside railway station Windsor & Eton Riverside station is a station in Windsor, Berkshire, England. The station, close to the River Thames and Windsor Castle, is a Grade II listed building. It is down the line from and is the terminus of the Staines to Windsor ...
*
Wolferton railway station Wolferton was a railway station on the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway line which opened in 1862 to serve the village of Wolferton in Norfolk, England. The station was also well known as the nearest station to Sandringham House, and royal trains ...


References

{{Reflist Monarchy Railway stations