Royal van Zanten celebrates 160th anniversary with charity auction

Royal Van Zanten celebrates its 160th anniversary in 2022 with a royal touch. In collaboration with growers, an orange 'Dancing Queen' Alstroemerias auction took place yesterday. The proceeds, €5,890.56, were doubled by Royal Van Zanten and donated to the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht.

In 1862 founder Gerrit Veldhuyzen van Zanten started his company in Hillegom, where he initially grew vegetables and potatoes. In 1901 - on the occasion of Queen Wilhelmina's 21st birthday - the Veldhuyzen van Zanten brothers were awarded the designation 'Royal' because of their leading position in the international flower bulb industry.

Maarten Goos, general manager of Royal van Zanten, together with  Amerik de Best, the auctioneer at Royal FloraHolland

After that, in the company's long history, Royal Van Zanten was happy to give substance to this royal honor. In 2002, in honor of the wedding of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, the breeder of Alstroemeria, among others, introduced an orange Alstroemeria that is still produced in the Netherlands under the name 'Dancing Queen.'

This one-time auction is a collaboration of Royal Van Zanten with growers Siem Knol Alstroemeria, Hoogenboom Alstroemeria and Firma A. Vreugdenhil Alstroemeria.