A story about the Dutch royal riches

Let me first admit that this story is largely anecdotal, as most great stories are. I’ve spent some time looking for facts and figures but again, they’re hard to come by. Just so you know before you start reading.

Safe investments

No self-respecting monarch hides a small fortune in cash under his mattress. Royal money is usually invested. At the beginning of the 20th century Russian railroads were a popular investment amongst European monarchs. Here’s why:

• railroads would surely be around for a while;
• railroads are state-owned and carry less risk than private enterprises;
• all royal families were related in one way or another and the Czar of Russia wasn’t going to turn his back to his Western family members all of a sudden.

The Western European fortunes were safely invested, the risk was low and the Russians got their railways. Generally, life was good—until the Russian revolution came along and Lenin simply declared he had no business with the Czars finances. The Russian railroads belonged to the Russians and if the Europeans wanted their money back they should turn to the Czar, not to the Russians. The Czar, however, was quite inconveniently dead and hence the money was gone.

As a consequence safer investment options were sought for the royal families. Around the start of the Second World War the Dutch queen Wilhelmina had invested considerable amounts in Dutch real estate. It seemed safe until the war lay most of the country in ruins. The Dutch government, theoretically in control of the Royal fortune, demanded even safer investments in the future. They would have to be distributed abroad so as not to be vulnerable to a single event (such as a European war) again.

A queen on a spending spree

Wilhelmina strongly opposed the new policy as she wanted to invest in her own country and people. A power struggle between the queen and the government followed. In the end, the queen reluctantly gave in. And invest she did. When the decision was made she took a personal assistant, walked outside from where she was at that very moment (the USA), took a car and drove around town buying every single piece of property that was for sale until she ran out of money to spend (I’ll spare you the financial quotum details).

Upon hearing of this, the Dutch government was in shock. What had this stupid woman done? She spent a fortune buying property at random! And yes, it was outside Europe, but in no way distributed so it was still highly risky!

Fast forward several years; when the queen went out on her spending spree she had been in New York city and the pieces of land, the small hotels and modest office-blocks she had bought are today known as down-town Manhattan—featuring some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Queen Wilhelmina’s near-incomprehensible profits put the Dutch government in a bit of an awkward position, to say the least.

An entrepreneurial spirit

Another part of the Dutch royal family’s fortune comes from stakes in private businesses. Here’s an example: in the 19th century one of royal family members lived in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia). He was considered by the Dutch government as a loony and so they were happy to fund some of his little projects as long as it kept him on the other side of the world. One of these little projects involved some silly substance called oil. You probably know what this is leading to. Ever wondered where the prefix ‘royal’ in ‘Royal Dutch/Shell‘, one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world, comes from? Now you know.

The fortune today

Although most these stakes have been sold today the Dutch royal family still has some shares here and there. No one knows exactly where, in what or how much, although some information can be found at the royal family’s official website (alas, no weblog). But I think queen Beatrix or crown prince Willem-Alexander won’t be needing a side-job as a call-center agent any time soon to make ends meet.