The Benelux Royals Message Board: Re: Dutch Royals to host NATO leaders at Huis Ten Bosch Palace

Well it still looks pretty confined to me... I hope the A/C works.

And these were only the VIPs. There are at least 100 delegation members and security staff accompanying the Heads of State who must all be at close proximity in adjacent rooms. The American President alone has a small army of secret service personnel.

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The king hosted a luncheon for a 100 guests in the same hall and his grandmother held state dinners for 80 people in the Hall of Orange so i guess 45 heads of state and political leaders will fit in easily. The Hall of Orange measures 162 square meters. Usually you devide that amount by two to get the amount of people you can comfortably seat for a formal dinner.
Last time the guests were received by the couple in the Wassenaar room on the first floor (UK so second floor US) above the blue drawingroom and the guests than continued into the ballroom above the vestibule. That is in size the second largest room of a little over 90 square meters so once again 45 people the Royal couple and a few of their staff should be perfectly at ease in that space.

Yes Huis ten Bosch is a small palace but most of the rooms in the White House are not that large either (the State dining room is 165 square meters) and if that is good enough for the president of the USA than HM can host at home in Huis ten Bosch. Not every dinner needs to be in the Hall of Citizens of the Royal Palace. That room is as big as the Ballroom of Buckingham palace.

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On June 24 during the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague King Willem-Alexander will host a welcome dinner at Huis Ten Bosch Palace With more than 45 Heads of State and Leaders of Government they will likely opt for the Oranje Sael again but the last time (Nuclear Summit) the seating was pretty cramped. Huis Ten Bosch is by royals standards a very modest Palace and not very suitable for receiving large numbers of guests let alone multiple delegations at the same time. The US president alone travels with a huge number of staff. I do wonder how they will cope.