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It looks a lot like Christmas at Huis ten Bosch Palace! A Christmas tree has been put up outside of Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander ’s official residence in The Hague. The Dutch Royal House shared a video on Sunday of the over 25-foot tree arriving and being decorated for the holidays.
“Today is the first Sunday of Advent. 🎄 On the fore square of Paleis Huis ten Bosch, the residence palace of the King and his family, a nine meter tall Christmas tree has been erected,” the caption alongside the post reads (translated to English). “The tree is decorated with more than four hundred (LED) lights💡.”
Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander, who are parents to daughters Princess Catharina-Amalia, 19, Princess Alexia, 18, and Princess Ariane, 16, have lived at Huis ten Bosch Palace since January of 2019.
Princess Ariane left home this past August to continue her secondary education at UWC Adriatic in Italy. Meanwhile, Princess Catharina-Amalia left the nest last year to study at the University of Amsterdam, but in October of 2022 it was reported that she had moved back home due to threats made against her, and Princess Alexia, who graduated from UWC Atlantic in May, is taking a gap year.
Huis ten Bosch Palace recently welcomed three new residents. Late last month, Queen Maxima released three hedgehogs at the palace. “Hedgehogs are having a harder time in the Netherlands. Due to hot summer months, the worms are deeper in the ground and there are fewer crawling insects. In recent years, more and more sick, weakened or injured hedgehogs are coming in to hedgehog shelters. The hedgehog’s habitat has also become smaller due to construction and increasing traffic,” the Dutch Royal House wrote on Instagram. “Queen Máxima has adopted three hedgehogs and evicted them in the garden of Paleis Huis ten Bosch. The garden and the forest area offer enough food and space for the hedgehogs through the many diverse plants and shrubs.”