In 1985 the American visual artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) – a leading figure in the pop art movement – published the serie “Reigning Queens”, saying: “Everybody knows that I’m a queen, but the prints are of royal ones and stuff.” Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, purchased a limited “Royal Edition” of the series, with diamond dust. Only 30 series were made, only a few complete series have survived in the world. Palace Het Loo has the only complete series in Europe.
Based on photos of the four female monarchs of 1985 four different portraits of each queen were produced. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands reigned 1980-2013, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom 1952-2022 and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark 1972-2024. The fourth queen he depicted was Ntombi Tfwala. She for a while was the regent of Swaziland, now eSwatini, for her son King Mswati III. Since 1986 she is the Queen Mother.
The palace thought it would be interesting to show the series once again in 2024, the year that, on 14 January 2024, the last reigning queen in the world, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, abdicated. Since the world has gained another queen. The period the world was without a queen was not very long by the way. On 5 September 2024 Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō turned out to have been chosen as Mãori Queen after the death of her father, but at the moment is the only queen in the world.
The small exhibition opened its doors on 12 October 2024 and was to be open until 1 January 2025. Late December 2024 it was decided to prolong the exhibition until 16 March 2025. As the material of the pieces of art is fragile, these portraits will not be on view again for at least five years.
Palace Het Loo
Koninklijk Park 16
7315 JA Apeldoorn
The Netherlands
https://paleishetloo.nl/
The palace is open from Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm.
Apeldoorn has a railway station, easy to reach from Amsterdam. From the railway station several buses go to the palace (see 9292.nl)
