A Royal Carriage Ride at the Fraeylemaborg

Just over two weeks ago, on 6 September, I attended the “Fraeylemaborg Koetsentocht 2014”. This tour with horse-drawn carriages takes place every year and takes the whole day. It ends at the beautiful Fraeylemaborg, a former noble estate in Slochteren, in the North of the Netherlands. I’d rather would have liked to sit in a carriage in an historical costume, but of course I was only allowed to take pictures of the carriages and the beautiful setting. The weather was quite good, but not very sunny unfortunately.

This year’s edition of the carriage ride had an extra royal touch on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Not only did the “Stichting Oud Oranje” present historical costumes, even a royal carriage participated this year with permission of King Willem-Alexander. Special guests as far as I understood were two jonkvrouwen Van Panhuys, whose ancestors once lived at the Fraeylemaborg. They must have been daughters of Jonkheer François Willem Peter Marie van Panhuys (1914-1969) and Louise Thomassen à Thuessink van der Hoop van Slochteren (1915-2008). They had three daughters Kitty, Mieke and Ulrica, and I am certain I heard one of the two ladies being called Mieke.