THE SECRETS OF STAFF DEEPENING

Together with our own curator Katrien Timmers, guest curator Ileen Montijn put together the tour "The Hidden Rooms of the Haar" in 2018. During this tour, the people who used to work behind the scenes are given full attention for once.

How did it feel that there were two kinds of people: "the family" with its guests, and behind the scenes the chambermaids and the cooks, the servants and drivers, the ones who cleaned and drove and hoeed and ran every errand? Finding out more about that is the most interesting thing there is. During the guided tour 'The hidden rooms on De Haar' the people who worked behind the scenes were given full attention. I came across them, sometimes even with their names, because they are listed with the 'staff laundry' on a laundry list from 1938 in the archives. The shirts of Albino, the night shirt of Pierre, the long underpants of H. Bressler... Or the faithful chambermaid of Baroness Marie-Hélène, Mercedes was her name, who was always just waiting on a chair in front of her employer's room door in case they needed her. Or the French chamber and linen maids, who, according to a former manager of De Haar, were such elegant little figures. Like true Frenchwomen, they had little prayers in their bedrooms.

Unfortunately, there is also much that we do not know. We do have the austere staff rooms on the third floor, furniture has survived: iron beds, bedside tables, dressing tables... But exactly what it looked like in those rooms remains uncertain. Especially the first decades after the castle was completed remain shrouded in the mists of time. About the latter years, I was able to consult veterans, such as the French maître d'hôtel Clément, who wrote to me that the furnishings were "not so bad, not so good" (but added that he didn't mind).

"Thierry always had a nod for the person holding the bowl"

Of course there was a gap between high and low, of course the staff had to work hard - but their accommodation was good, and hardly any negative stories can be heard about how they were treated. Yes, some guests were difficult. But all the old-timers I spoke to have good memories. One of them told me that when Baron Thierry was served at the table, he always had a quick look or nod for the person holding the bowl. It is a tiny detail, but it is significant.

"On The Hair you enter a world where everything was different"

For me as a historian it is fascinating because at Castle de Haar you get very close to the past, in a world where everything was different. Where a wealthy, noble family was cared for, helped and served by staff from early to late. From the knock on the bedroom door in the morning (followed by the breakfast you received on a tray in bed), to the obliging hands that had opened that same bed and prepared pajamas or nightgowns in the evening after dinner.

Discover the hidden rooms of De Haar for yourself!