King pushes palace restoration despite high price tag

For the first time King Willem-Alexander has commented on the unrest that has arisen over how much it will cost to renovate palace Huis ten Bosch. During an interview with the press at the end of his visit to the United States, the King said that the palace has to be renovated, but how it is to be done is up to the State. "The State of the Netherlands is the owner of Huis ten Bosch. It is up to the State to decide what happens to it. We have no influence on it", King Willem-Alexander said, NOS reports. "The palace must be renovated. But how it will be renovated, the State has to decide. We are not the owner." He called the palace a historical building that is of great value to the history of the Netherlands. The palace in The Hague is being renovated so that the king and his family can live there. It was initially estimated that the renovations would cost 35 million euros, but last week RTL News reported that the actual cost is around 60 million euros.