The Carriages and Stables Division of the Royal Stables is responsible for around 30 horses and 70 carriages.

Most of the royal carriages are kept at Het Loo Palace Museum, where they are on show. Only the horses and carriages that are still regularly used for ceremonial events and leisure purposes are kept at the Royal Stables in The Hague. The maintenance of the carriages is mostly done on the palace premises by a team of craftspeople with specialist skills, such as a carriage painter, coach builder and a member of staff tasked with the upkeep of the ceremonial harnesses.

Ceremonial harness room

The Royal Stables contains a room where the ceremonial harnesses are kept. These are used on special occasions, like Prinsjesdag (the State Opening of Parliament), state visits, and royal marriages and funerals. For daily purposes, regular tack is used.

The collection includes the following ceremonial harnesses:

  • one eight-horse full state harness;
  • two six-horse state harnesses and one four-horse state harness;
  • two six-horse semi state harnesses;
  • one eight-horse state harness.

Riding horses

The Royal Stables has two categories of horses: riding horses and carriage horses. There are usually eight horses in the riding stables. They are ridden by members of the Royal House and the King’s aides-de-camp. They are pedigree animals of varying colours, inscribed in the Studbook of the Royal Dutch Sport Horse (KWPN). On Prinsjesdag, the head of the riding stables, as the equerry-in-chief, rides ahead of the carriages in the procession.

Carriage horses

The carriage stables are home to around 20 carriage horses who by tradition are all black. There are two kinds of carriage horses: Friesian horses, inscribed in the Royal Friesian Studbook Association Studbook of Friesian Horses (KFPS), and Gelderlanders, inscribed in the KWPN. On Prinsjesdag, the coach in which the monarch travels to the State Opening of Parliament is pulled in alternate years by either the Friesians or the Gelderlanders. On that day, the head of the carriage stables, the coachman-in-chief, oversees the arrival and departure of the carriages.