Drottningholm – For Fans Of Royalty, Architecture And Theatre

Drottningholm – For Fans Of Royalty, Architecture And Theatre

Front of Drottningholm, Stockholm

Drottningholm, the palace of the Swedish royal family, is located on an island near Stockholm. If you’re not a royalty fan or don’t like mundane buildings, you should not bother to go there. But do get on the boat if you fancy a posh piece of 17th Century architecture.

The Swedish royal family has two palaces in Stockholm. Kungliga Slottet in the heart of the city is used for official meetings. The king and queen also have their offices there.

Drottningholm is the place where the family lives.

It is located on the island Lovön, a little more than 10 km outside the centre. There’s a bridge so you can reach it by car and bus, but the best way to reach the royal residence is by ferry. The boat leaves daily every hour from the bridge near Stadshuset.

With the Stockholm Card you get a discount on the boat trip and free admission to Drottningholm and the neighboring theatre.

Staircase inside the Swedish royal palace The Swedish royal palace was constructed in the same time as Versailles, and is built in French Baroque style.

The architects were Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and his similarly named son who also designed Kungliga Slottet.

The palace is smaller than Versailles but equally distinguished in style. There are guided tours but if your knowledge of Swedish history is limited I recommend walking around yourself.

You can see the exuberantly decorated bed room of queen Hedwig Eleonora, which took 15 years to complete, a militaristic gallery in baroque style and the impressive library of queen Lovisa Ulrika.

The back of Drottningholm looks out on lake Mälaren.

Outside you can walk around in the park and visit the beautiful court theatre (Slottsteater) from the 18th Century. It is said to be the world’s oldest theatre that’s in its original state, with fake curtains, frontages of painted papier-mâché and old-fashioned sound effects that create thunder and simulate lighting.

The court theatre will definitely make an impression – in fact, I like it more than the palace - and if you’re lucky you can even catch a performance there since it is regularly used in summer.

The China Pavilion in the park of the royal palace.

Another building worth your attention is the China Pavilion (Kina Slott), a present from king Adolf Frederik to his wife Lovisa Ulrika.

Go there if you want to know what people considered to be typically Chinese 250 years ago. It’s not the original building though: that one was taken down due to construction problems only ten years after it was erected, and replaced by the current pavilion.

The Drottningholm palace is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. The same goes for the theatre and the pavilion.

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