The Hidden Wealth of the Dutch Royal Family and Nobles

 　　The leisurely windmills, the dense water nets, the orange tulips, and a king who is not so high-profile... Compared with the British Queen Elizabeth II, who has attracted worldwide attention in both daily life and food, the Dutch royal family across the sea gives people a subtle, Frugal, low-key, restrained image.

　　However, the truth is that the Dutch royal family, which is not very large, spends more than 30 million pounds a year, which is not only higher than that of the British royal family, but also four times that of the Spanish royal family.

　　In other words, the population of the Netherlands is only about 1/4 of that of the United Kingdom, and taxpayers share the burden of raising the Dutch royal family, which is more expensive than the British royal family. How rich are the royal families and nobles of the Low Countries? How is their wealth passed on? Today, when the global royal family is declining, what is their current situation?

Where is the royal wealth hidden?

　　Compared to Britain's millennia-old monarchy tradition, the Netherlands is going in the opposite direction.

The expensive crown worn by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands

　　After implementing the republic for many centuries and finally being conquered by Napoleon, in the 19th century, in order to unite the national centripetal force of the Dutch, the Dutch abandoned the republic and turned to a constitutional monarchy.

　　After Napoleon's defeat, the Orange Dynasty from Germany has been in the Netherlands until now.

　　The Netherlands is not as powerful and large as the UK in general, but has a high density of wealth. As the national symbol of the Netherlands, the Dutch royal family also has huge assets that are hard to count.

　　From the Baden crown to the Macquarie ruby ​​crown, from the sapphire crown to the emerald crown, compared with the thrifty and abdicated former Queen Beatrix, the current Queen Maxima of the Netherlands uses her own expensive crown that has never been the same. known to the world.

　　Ornate jewelry, fine clothing, and villas by the Aegean Sea are bound to cost a fortune. The king and queen of the Netherlands can receive a total of more than 1 million euros in wages from the government each year, and will follow the trend of salary increases as civil servants. Paid and "entitled" kings and queens also have the right to be reimbursed for many living expenses.

　　Compared with the British Queen and his wife who started to pay personal income tax in 1992, the Dutch King and his wife have always enjoyed "tax-free services".

　　According to research by Professor Hermann Mathes of Ghent University, the spending of the Dutch royal family is the highest of any royal family in Europe. Even so, the Orange family is still not the richest family in the Netherlands. According to Forbes' statistics on Dutch family wealth in recent years, the Orange family has long been out of the top ten. The wealth of the royal family and the wealth of the C&A founder Brenninkmeijer, who has been at the top of the list for many years Far from it.

　　However, the public did not buy it. Sunny Motke, a well-known media person in Amsterdam, believes that the long-term transparency of the wealth of the Dutch royal family is not high, and the reason for the low valuation is that some valuations do not clearly calculate the shares of the Dutch royal family in various companies. For example, the well-known Shell Oil, its full name is Royal Dutch Shell, and the Orange family is its main shareholder.

　　Due to property transparency issues, the Dutch royal family also has frequent disputes with the news media. Former Queen Beatrix's father, Prince Bernhard, wrote a letter to Forbes in 2003, informing him that his family's wealth was only 1 of the $210 million announced by Forbes. /10.

　　The current King Willem-Alexander bought a villa in Mozambique when he was crown prince, which also caused a public outcry at the time. Under pressure, the then Prime Minister Balkenende had to announce the budget of the Dutch royal family that year to give taxpayers an explanation.

Land is an important asset

　　Although there are many voices to increase the transparency of the royal family's property, especially financial expenditures, the people in general are still full of love for the royal family.

　　On King's Day, April 27 every year, they decorate the country in a sea of ​​orange. They are happy to see the king and queen on stage gorgeously, and they are also happy to see the "chivalry" upheld by other nobles, although more often it is just a joke.

Royal Shell Refinery in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 27, 2022, people gather in the block to celebrate King's Day

　　We know Shell Oil, its full name is Royal Dutch Shell, and the Orange family is its main shareholder.

　　Along with opaque wealth and a stake in Shell Oil, land is another great asset enjoyed by the Dutch royal family and nobles.

　　From the period of the Republic of the Seven Provinces to today's Kingdom of the Netherlands, the "Sea Coachman" has been accumulating the world's assets in his own way. In addition to mainland Europe, the Netherlands of the Orange family also enjoys sovereignty over Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten in the Americas and the Caribbean.

　　Although similar to the United Kingdom, many lands and institutions in the Netherlands have been dubbed the "royal family", but the land owned by the Dutch royal family is limited.

　　The real estate resources of the royal family can be released to the public through the inquiry of the land department. From the small coastal town of Wassenaar to the capital Amsterdam, and then to Apeldoorn in the east, the Dutch royal family owns more than 500 hectares of land. In addition to King Willem-Alexander, who owns the most property, the former queen has her own Drakenstein Castle, the princesses have their own horse farms, and the former queen's sisters have vast estates.

　　However, the real estate of the Dutch royal family is not the largest in the country. TMG Group shareholder Van Boyenbruck owns more than 1,000 hectares of land, while another Dutch rich man, Margaret Moret, owns more than 4,000 hectares of land.

　　The low-key Dutch royal family is at best a "rich peasant" in its own country.

　　While there is not much land, the Paleis Het Loo, the summer residence of the royal family, and the prestigious Paleis Soestdijk have long been assets of the government. The Dutch royal family currently only owns the garden lawn next to the palace and other places.

　　Some royals abandoned their palaces, and some nobles guarded their estates. The current owner of Kasteel Amstenrade in the Dutch province of Limburg, Leila, from the Marchand and Anderson family, is a diplomat and owner of the castle. Adhering to her father's legacy, she inherited the big house. As an aristocrat, she inherited the grandeur and pride left to her by her ancestors; as a landlord, all she has to focus on is cleaning and cleaning.

　　The high cost of maintaining the castle forced Layla to perform several roles: a housewife, a businesswoman, a countess, and the guardian of the castle. Faced with cracks in the walls, burst pipes, overgrown weeds, and unclean glass, Lady Laila, as a tour guide, received batches of ordinary people who witnessed the legacy of the nobles here, in order to earn money to repair the castle. cost.

　　The low-key Dutch royal family is at best a "rich peasant" in its own country.

Soesterdijk Palace is already a government property

"Defender of Civilization"

　　Compared with tangible capital and land, the inheritance of intangible assets among Dutch nobles also changes with the development of the times.

　　The title, as an intangible asset, a title based on blood ties, is passed down among the nobility in the Netherlands. The Netherlands, with a population of more than 17 million, currently has more than 10,000 nobles.

　　Today, when the monarchy is declining, the Dutch aristocracy still maintains a strong vitality.

　　Although the number of noble families is decreasing, their total number is still rising. With the exception of prominent members of the royal family, most of the new generation of Dutch aristocrats do not see themselves as distinctive. On the contrary, many of them do not want to be excluded from this society because of their noble blood.

　　Noble titles in the Netherlands are based on the principle of "passing on males and not females", that is, only those who acquire noble blood from the patriline can be registered as nobles. Before 1994, another requirement to become aristocrat was a child born in wedlock, meaning that only children born to parents under the protection of marriage could become aristocrats. But with the enactment of a new law in 1994, children born out of wedlock can also become nobles. Although the law is being relaxed, the strict legal system and social system still make it difficult to become a noble.

　　January 25, 2002 was the most recent nobility promotion in the Netherlands. Because of her marriage to the Prince of Orange, Maxima, who was born in a commoner family in Argentina, was promoted to princess, and she is now Queen Maxima. But due to strict laws, his parents could not even attend their wedding.

　　The inheritance of titles also means the continuation of responsibilities, obligations and traditions. In the old days, the children of Dutch nobles had to learn a set of "noble language" exclusive to small groups. But nowadays, many people in the younger generation have no idea that nobles have to say "sweat" (transpireren) instead of "sweat" (zweten), and they have long been unaware that nobles have to say "bath" (douche) instead of "shower" ( douche nemen).

　　The spread of egalitarianism and civic consciousness has made many young aristocrats in the Netherlands see their status as a burden rather than an honor, but there are also aristocrats who regard themselves as guardians of civilization and inheritors of chivalry. At the aristocratic ball, they danced the graceful waltz, and at the festival, they greeted each other with the unique kiss of the nobles. They are happy to pass on the wealth, land and identity that their ancestors on this land have left to themselves.

　　"People think we are stingy, but the truth is that we advocate careful use of money." Prince Bernhard once responded to rumors about the royal family's wealth. The Dutch royal family's property is not the most, but they have rich shares, grand pomp and national support; the Dutch royal family's land is not the most vast, they can even entrust the palace left by their ancestors to the government, but this also precisely reflects their In his bones, he seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages and uses money cautiously.

　　With the development of the times, the wealth of the Dutch royal family will become more open and transparent. The more this is the case, the more we can discover the pragmatism, rationality and prudence of the Dutch royal family and nobles in the inheritance of property. Perhaps it is precisely because of these qualities that the Dutch royal family has a grandeur different from the British royal family, a luxury different from the Spanish royal family, and a unique low-key aristocratic temperament.