Het Loo Royal Estate

Collectively, these properties form what were once the extended grounds of Het Loo Palace. Het Loo Palace borders on the Palace Park, and Het Oude Loo Hunting Lodge is located in the grounds of the Park.

Administration

The Royal Domain is administered by the sovereign (the King), while Hoog Soeren and the Palace Park are formally administered by the Central Government Real Estate Agency. From the perspective of landscape management and the protection of irreplaceable local flora and fauna, these properties constitute a single wildlife area. This is why the daily management of all three falls to the Het Loo Royal Estate Department of the Royal Household. As the head of this department and steward of the Royal Estate, the Chief Forester is responsible for the management of all flora and fauna in the Royal Estate.

History

Het Loo Royal Estate has been connected with the House of Orange-Nassau for over 300 years. The Royal Domain proper is designated for the use of the sovereign. It was purchased between 1900 and 1915 by Queen Wilhelmina. In 1959, seeking to ensure that the estate remained a single entity, she entrusted the Royal Domain proper, which had been her private property, to the Dutch State, on the condition that the sovereign would retain right of use. Hoog Soeren and Het Loo Palace Park are state property and fall under the Central Government Real Estate Agency, part of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Het Oude Loo Hunting Lodge has been owned by the state since 1968, and is also managed by the Central Government Real Estate Agency. The hunting lodge is rented by the sovereign from the Dutch State, being mainly used by the royal family as a country house. Its connection with the House of Orange-Nassau goes back centuries to its purchase by Stadholder William III in 1684.

The Het Loo Royal Estate falls under the Royal Household.