Queen Emma, the Queen Mother bought the building in 1896 with the legacy from her brother-in-law Prince Hendrik, nicknamed the Seafarer. She had it extensively rebuilt before, in 1901, coming here after the marriage of Queen Wilhelmina. The renovation work included the main staircase to the first floor being adorned with shiny copper banisters. Thus lending Lange Voorhout Palace a veritably regal appeal!
This beautiful staircase looks like it leads up to the second floor, but that is just an (optical) illusion - the stairs only go up to the first floor. Only Queen Emma, the Queen Mother, her guests and the most important members of the royal household were allowed to use this elegant staircase. Since Emma did not have any chambers on the second floor, there was no need for a beautiful staircase up to it.
All the other residents of the palace used the invisible staircase. The service staff, whose quarters were situated on the second and third floors, had to take the stairs behind all the doors on the left-hand side of the building. This is still used by visitors and the current staff.
It was not just the staircase that was renovated - the skylight in the hall was fitted with beautiful stained-glass windows, various rooms had paintings installed above the doors and the interior was composed using elements from other palaces, such as Noordeinde and Het Loo. Thus making the image of the palace more royal. One particularly eye-catching feature was to be found in Her Majesty’s bathroom: Emma’s red marble bath!
