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

NATO HQ is in Brussels 2 hours away and perfectly suited to host this summit. We don't have UN conferences outside New York or Geneva either. Why do we need to organise a summit outside Brussels or Washington? The Hague and especially the World Forum is the worst possible location. Its all just too small to accommodate. Hence the temporary buildings blocking one of the city's main traffic arteries. Benefits for the city? There are none except for extra revenue for some hotel chains and some tourism tax Big Whoopie. People will be avoiding the city for weeks as a result of this great idea. Not flocking to it. The Dutch government said that The Hague would be compensated by large number of visitors after hosting the Nuclear Summit. However there's no evidence to suggest that as a direct result of the summit The Hague prospered from tourism soon after. No one believes in that old PR nonsense. Spending millions on 1-2 day NATO summits in countries large and small is an absolute waste of time and money. At least be honest to your citizens about the real motives but don't talk 'city promotion' nonsense to the people footing the bill. I think W-A and Maxima will be great hosts and looking forward to the cozy dinner in the Oranje Sael. I strongly suggest to put Maxima next to Donald. Perhaps she can explain some basic economic principles to him while he's eating his burger. I wonder if they explain to their guests they are actually sitting in a mausoleum.

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Only the leaders were invited to the dinner I believe there were 60 people in the hall.
As for the deal I fear we already had our share: Mark Rutte becoming the secretary general of Nato.
On the other hand it will be good for The Hague to show itself and as one of the wealthier nations of this world we are expected to do things like this. Being the hosting nation gives us a little more influence than we would have had otherwise.

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And it seems that 200 mln of Dutch taxpayers money (200 mln) will be spent on a 1 day summit... I hope Schoof can make a great trade Deal with Trump to get some of that money back somehow... what a disgrace.

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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.