Gråsten Castle is best known for being the summer residence of the Danish Royal Family

Danish Royal Family

The Danish Royal Family includes the Queen of Denmark and her family. All members except the Queen hold the title of Prince/Princess of Denmark with the style of His/Her Royal Highness or His/Her Highness. The Queen is styled Her Majesty. The Queen and her siblings belong to the House of...

. It is located in Gråsten

Gråsten

Gråsten , stress on last syllable) is a town with a population of 4,200 on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark by the Nybøl Nor at an inlet of the Flensburg Fjord. It belongs to the Sønderborg municipality in Region of Southern Denmark...

 in the Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

 region of southern Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. The main house has a modern, all-white facade, with Venetian

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 doors opening onto sweeping, manicured lawns and gravel walkways. The grounds include a huge stables court.

History

Legend says that Gråsten Castle is where Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

 wrote, The Little Match Girl

The Little Match Girl

The Little Match Girl is a short story by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story is about a dying child's dreams and hope, and was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media including animated film, and a television musical.-Plot summary:On a cold New Year’s...

, during his visit in 1845, but that's not true. He wrote it when he visited Augustenborg Castle. The south wing of the present-day main house is believed to be built on the site of the second structure, that was built in 1603 to replace a hunting lodge which had been destroyed in a fire in the middle of the 16th century. After about three and a half succeeding centuries of ownership by Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 nobles, Gråsten Slot was taken over by the State, extensively restored, and by 1935, it was the summer residence for then-Crown Prince Frederik, later King Frederik IX, and Crown Princess Ingrid, later Queen Ingrid

Ingrid of Sweden

Ingrid of Sweden was a Swedish princess and the queen consort of King Frederick IX of Denmark.-Background:...

, who adored the castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 until her death in November 2000.

Landscape and additional structures

The property includes a stables court, manicured lawns, and gravel walkways. The castle grounds themselves are an oft-described-as-Romantic landscape. The landscape, and especially the gardens are said to be Anglo

Anglo

Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...

-inspired. The palace chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

, the only part of the estate that is open to the public, is a copy of the Jesuit Church of Antwerp. Despite a badly damaged interior from the Schleswig wars, the chapel is decorated with 80 paintings. The chapel was also the setting for the 2000 christening of Prince Nikolai of Denmark (son of Prince Joachim and first wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg). The chapel has bilingual congregations, with German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

services to accommodate the mix of local culture. The estate area has an area of 6.6 km² (2.5 mile²).

External links

• Gråsten Palace and Palace Gardens Danish Palaces and Property Authority
• Gråsten Palace Church