Expanding royal family's crypt in Delft proves more expensive than planned

Once again, more money needs to be spent on the expansion and refurbishment of the royal family's vault in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. Due to a "construction setback,” an additional 350,000 euros must be allocated, State Secretary Gunay Uslu writes to the Tweede Kamer. Of that amount, 250,000 euros will come from the Ministry of General Affairs and 100,000 euros from the Royal House.

Uslu's letter shows that last year an additional amount of 271,000 euros was taken out of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science budget. This had to do with the fact that the costs of archaeological research were higher "because during the excavation more finds than expected were made that need to be investigated,” the State Secretary wrote.

Work on the royal vault started last year, after years of delay. It became apparent that the operation would turn out to be considerably more expensive than anticipated. Almost 2 million euros had to be added, bringing the total government contribution to 3.6 million euros. That would now exceed 4 million. Last year, the Royal House contributed 300,000 euros extra.

The refurbishment is necessary because the crypt is almost full. The last Oranges to be interred are Queen Juliana on March 30, 2004 and Prince Bernhard on December 11 of the same year.