Dutch government pays royals for state property

This 2015 video is called Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands (4K).

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

The Dutch state paid millions for pieces of furniture to Princess [ex-queen] Juliana in the 1980s, even though they were already state property. NRC daily reports this on the basis of its own investigation into the purchase of four palace inventories, between 1982 and 2009.

It is said to involve at least 300 valuable pieces of furniture from the collection of palace Het Loo. At the beginning of the 19th century, they were ordered at government cost by King Louis Napoleon, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, writes NRC. There was also furniture from the period of King William I.

The government paid around 20 million euros for the inventory of Het Loo. To find out for which part exactly there was double payment “in-depth archive research” must be done.

Court officials allegedly wrongly concluded in 1969 that all furniture at Het Loo was “wholly owned by the royal family”. That conclusion was then decisive for decades.

The NRC already reported yesterday that the government pays the royal family twice for the maintenance of palace furniture.

Prime Minister Rutte reacted yesterday, claiming that the royals had not done anything wrong. Though he said that he himself did not understand the issue, he claimed no investigation was necessary.

UPDATE: after pressure from parliament, Rutte now says there will be an investigation after all.