The Willemslinde of the Prinsentuin

This winter linden did not grow from a seed that fell nearby. It grew from a twig cut from the Wilhelmslinde in Dillenburg, Germany, the tree under which William of Orange spent his childhood before he became the reluctant leader of the Dutch revolt and was assassinated in Delft in 1584. Supporters of the House of Orange took cuttings from the Dillenburg original and planted them at sites tied to William's life, and this one went into the Prinsentuin, the garden beside Museum Prinsenhof, in 1956. It is by a wide margin the youngest tree on this list, not even a century old against the mulberry's three, but it carries the most direct physical link to the man Delft is built around commemorating. The museum grounds are mid-renovation as of 2026, work that started in 2025 and runs to 2027, and the municipality has said the garden's historic trees are being kept rather than cleared for the new design. Until the museum reopens, treat the Prinsentuin as a garden worth checking on rather than one guaranteed open on any given day.