The Royal Palace of Stockholm, Stockholm

LadyFinn · Nov 2, 2018

Smålandsgran delivered today a Christmas Tree to the Royal Palace
"On November 22, we begin to deliver this year's first Christmas tree. But already today we had to make a special delivery. All customers are equally important but when the Royal Palace calls, we can get out acute. See you soon? Has the fir been ordered?"

https://www.facebook.com/smalandsgran/photos/a.346153042188618/1361146070689305

From Brazilian TV

LadyFinn · Dec 2, 2018

At court Youtube, so beautiful
Happy first Advent! This morning Advent lights and Christmas lights shine up at the Royal Palace and Gamla Stan in Stockholm
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq4ErKClDrE/

Photo from Instagram of Claes Carlsson, the Master of the Palace/Court Florist
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGAS2ShnTg/

Konseljsalen, the Cabinet Meeting Room, where the Councils of State are held.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsFnzTzBQg1/

Photos from the Bernadotte Gallery
https://www.instagram.com/p/BseIccVnZvP/

Beautiful photo in the evening
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsdaCcShlBd/

The Royal Palace today
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsxifOSht4s/

And two days ago
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsslewpHNv4/

The Royal Court published at Facebook seven photos of the Royal Palace today
"A winter Friday at the Royal Palace today!"¨
Kungahuset - En vintrig fredag på Kungliga slottet i dag! _ Facebook

LadyFinn · Feb 4, 2019

Hovurmakare (court clockmaker) Sophia Reuterdahl takes every week care of the Royal Palace's 80 antique clocks. Sophia Reuterdahl is the first person in 100 years who has got the title "hovurmakare", Sophia got it from the king in 2017.
Video
Hon ställer kungens alla klockor på Slottet – varje vecka

Article
https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=aaf18cbddade5b7bda8a7cc3bacfcc0a&oe=5CF7BA44

Many visitors pay attention to the detailed cabinet that stands in the Victoria Salon at the Royal Palace. The cabinet of Sèvresporslin and gilt bronze, is a state gift from Napoleon III to Charles XV in 1863. The cabinet was designed by Leon Feuchéres and the recessed porcelain plates are painted by Auguste Borget. Borget was influenced by oriental motifs, especially Chinese, and the paintings show motives from China he visited.
Photo 2: The street scene from Canton (the front of the cabinet on the left) Photo 3: Mandarin boat on the canal in Canton's suburbs (front side, in the middle) Photo 4: Temple on the hills of Hong Shang (front to the right) Photo5: Shepherds take their animals pasture between Hong Kong and Macao (left short side). Photos: Alexis Daflos / Kungligaslotten.se
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtocJ06BXOw/

At Instagram of the Royal Palaces
Carl XVI Gustaf's Jubilee Room
In connection with the King's 25 on the throne anniversary, in 1998, the Riksdag, government and Sweden's municipalities handed over sketches to a new interior of a room at the Royal Palace. The room has the theme "A Swedish summer day".
The realization of these sketches rested mainly on the architect Åke Axelsson. Axelsson has previously worked with interior design for the Swedish Parliament, a number of libraries and schools. Eva Rodenius has designed the fabric on the furniture - woven up by Klässbols Linneväveri. A large carpet was designed by textile artist Nini Sandström and was woven by Märta Måås-Fjetterström AB in collaboration with Handarbetets Vänner. The wall field's watercolor painting was painted by the artist Lars Abrahamsson in place to get the right lighting conditions. The painting, Brunnerskalet i Årefjällen, to the right in the room is painted by Björn Wessman and the portraits on the left depicting the King and The Queen are painted by Catrine Näsmark.
The room is a good example of how well modern Swedish design works in an 18th century environment. It was officially opened for the first time in connection with the National Day celebration in 2001. The room is also used for representation.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuI-8jfB2ov/

LadyFinn · Feb 24, 2019

At Instagram of Pernilla Kristensson, palace curator of the Royal Court
Her office
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs5IJPUnS2o/

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LadyFinn · Apr 1, 2019

Some of the clocks at the Royal Palace, from the website of the Royal Palaces.
Väggur, Paris 1740 - Kungliga slotten
Horatiernas ed, Paris 1805 - Kungliga slotten
Drottning Kristinas ur, 1646 - Kungliga slotten
Bordsur, Paris 1784 - Kungliga slotten
Automat med lejon, 1600 - Kungliga slotten

Hovurmakare (court clockmaker) Sophia Reuterdahl takes every week care of the Royal Palace's 80 antique clocks.
Video from the Youtube channel of the Royal Palaces

LadyFinn · Apr 16, 2019

LadyFinn · Apr 26, 2019

Culture Night at the Royal Palace, 27th April.

What is the Palace like by night? There's music, art, grand rooms, sculptures and a spring exhibition! For one night only, you can enter Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities via the Palace's garden, Logården.
On Stockholm's Culture Night, you can wander through the Bernadotte Apartments as you admire the art and furnishings. Staff including the Steward of the Royal Household will be on hand to show examples of royal table settings.
You can also explore Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities with its ancient sculptures and see the newly opened drawing exhibition. Children can try on historical costumes and have their photo taken in the selfie frame. For one night only, entry to the Museum of Antiquities will be via the palace's garden, Logården.
Don't miss the Royal Chapel and the evening's concerts, including concert pianist Roland Pöntinen.
The programme also features pop-up tours in Swedish and English, and the opportunity to buy souvenirs from the Royal Gift Shop.
Culture Night at the Royal Palace of Stockholm - Kungliga slotten

Photos from the Culture Night yesterday, about 8000 people visited the Royal Palace.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwxAri2Bvkk/
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LadyFinn · May 13, 2019

On June 17, the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) opens its permanent exhibition again after just over a year of rebuilding in the prestigious vaults in Stockholm's Palace. The museum is inaugurated by H.M. The King, in the presence of H.M. The Queen and Minister for Culture and Democracy Amanda Lind. The work is currently in an intense final stage and the first objects are in place in the stands.
- After 40 years with basically the same exhibition, it is time to update the royal story. New research and knowledge in recent decades means that there is much new to highlight and tell, says Malin Grundberg, museum director at Livrustkammaren.
Nyöppning av Livrustkammaren den 17 juni – första föremålen på plats - Livrustkammaren
Translation

LadyFinn · May 25, 2019

At Instagram of the Royal Palaces
The Throne the Queen left behind
In the Hall of State in the Royal Palace of Stockholm stands one of Swedish history’s most famous objects: Queen Kristinas Silver Throne. It was made by a goldsmith in Augsburg – a wooden frame, completely covered in beaten silver.
Queen Kristina was arguably the most cerebral monarch Sweden has ever had. As early as 1649, a year before her coronation, she had flatly announced she would never marry: ‘I say expressly, that it is impossible for me to wed … I will be silent as to the reasons… I have prayed diligently to God to be of that mind, but I have never been able to find it’.
Kristina had probably decided even before the coronation that she would abdicate. She left Sweden in 1654. The Silver Throne she left in Stockholm.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxpnNAlDl2w/

Press showing of the Royal Armoury's new permanent exhibition on June 13th
Welcome to the press showing at the Royal Armoury on Thursday 13 June at 09.00-11.00. After more than one year of rebuilding, a new permanent exhibition is in place in the prestigious vaults of Stockholm's Palace.
Down at the page you can see some photos of this new permanent exhibition - one of those is this where we can see the dress Victoria wore on her 18th birthday.
Image Upper.com - Free Image Hosting - View Image
Pressvisning av Livrustkammarens nya permanenta utställning den 13... - Livrustkammaren

LadyFinn · May 30, 2019

At Instagram of the Royal Palaces
Mother Svea (Moder Svea) has been used as a symbol for Sweden since the 17th century. She is often depicted as a shield moth with one or two lions.
Mother Svea is considered to have been created in 1672 by Anders Leijonstedt in the poem "Svea Lycksaligheets Triumph", but received more widespread distribution through Gunno Dahlstierna's "Kunga-Skald" from 1698.
Historically, the symbol has been used extensively and on a visit to the Royal Palace you already meet her on the stairs up to the floors. In the lower part of the western staircase she stands, as Sweden personified, in the form of a bronze sculpture by Theodor Lundberg in 1901. (Fig. 2) If you look at the ceiling a few steps further up, you see Mother Svea surrounded by Swedish society - as poetry, music, educational arts, religion, peace, agriculture, industry and science. Painted by Julius Kronberg in the 1890s. (Picture 1, detail)
In the Pillared Hall's ceiling is the Italian artist Alessandro Ferretti's painting from the 1730s. Here she is surrounded by the four seasons, but not spring. Perhaps Mother Svea is spring, maybe we are still waiting in the spring when Mother Svea rises again and the Swedish lion wakes up - there are different interpretations. (Picture 3) Looking up at the roof of Sofia Magdalena's parade-bed room, you see Mother Svea surrounded by women's figures that symbolize the four continents of Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Over Mother Svea is the five-pointed north star. The paintings were made in the 1730s by the French artists Guillaume-Thomas-Raphael Taraval and Antoine Baptiste Monnoyer. (Picture 4, detail)
In the roof of the White Sea Hall, Svea comes in her carriage drawn by two lions, surrounded by Segern and Ryktet. Around the world, the gods are amazed by Svea's triumph. The war god Mars in red armor looks at the little amorin who carries a sign with the text Cum ipsa fortior, ie. With her you become stronger. The painting is made by the Italian artist Domenico Francia, 18th century. (Picture 5)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx6feweC2Yu/

Nice photo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxsY6OUoX91/

LadyFinn · Jun 15, 2019

On June 17, the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) opens its permanent exhibition again after just over a year of rebuilding. The museum is inaugurated by The King, in the presence of The Queen and Minister for Culture and Democracy Amanda Lind.
The press show was on 13th June.

- We have gained lots of new knowledge, including through research, which means that we want to tell a new story, says Malin Grundberg, director of the Royal Armoury.
The new basic exhibition is distinguished mainly in two ways: To become more understandable, Sweden's royal history is now told chronologically, from Gustav Vasa to Crown Princess Victoria. In addition, the queens have been allowed to step in the spotlight.
- Much has been done about the queens in recent decades, while they hardly had any place at all in the old exhibition. Therefore, we have tried to highlight them much more than before.
Among the objects, which for the first time receive a place in the permanent exhibition, Queen Kristina's crown mantle is heard from the coronation in Stockholm Cathedral in 1650. Through the centuries it has collected dust in the magazine, apart from some occasional temporary exhibition.
- It is remarkable considering that Queen Kristina is one of very few ruling queens who have been in Sweden, says Malin Grundberg.
The new exhibition also has a greater focus on the 19th and 20th centuries and our times. Several exhibits belong to our current royal family, but the royal house has not been involved in the work with the new exhibition.
- We are a state authority and run our business without the involvement of the royal couple, but they come to the opening ceremony, which we are very happy about, says Malin Grundberg.
Livrustkammaren ger plats åt drottningarna

Photos
ROYAL: Rundgang durch die neue Ausstellung in der Rüstkammer des königlichen Schlosses in Stockholm

The three-tailed flag
Since 1873, the royal flag has been raised on the roof of the Royal Palace. The three-tailed flag which flies here is reserved for the Royal Court and the Swedish Armed Forces. The flag of the Royal Court has the national coat of arms at the centre of the cross, but its appearance and size depend on the weather and the current regent.
It is normally flown in the form of the medium-sized flag, which measures 360x180 centimetres and features the greater national coat of arms at the centre of the yellow cross. When the medium-sized flag is raised at the Royal Palace, this means that The King is able to fulfil his duties as Head of State.
If The King is prevented from doing so, for example during state visits abroad, The Crown Princess steps in as temporary regent. On these occasions, a three-tailed flag featuring the lesser national coat of arms flies instead. However, the size is the same as the medium-sized flag.
The three-tailed flag - Kungliga slotten

LadyFinn · Jun 29, 2019

LadyFinn · Jul 1, 2019

“Look at the rugs – find me”
Märta Måås-Fjetterström at the Royal Palace
HM The King has taken the initiative for the exhibition “Look at the rugs – find me” to mark one hundred years since the artist Märta Måås-Fjetterström opened her workshop in Båstad. The exhibition will be held in the Hall of State at the Royal Palace in Stockholm between 13 October 2019 and 19 April 2020.
“Look at the rugs – find me” Märta Måås-Fjetterström at the Royal Palace - Sveriges Kungahus
Look at the rugs - find me exhibition - Scan Magazine March 2019

Some photos of the permanent exhibition at the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren):
https://www.instagram.com/p/B06c541HZrN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B06AurmAAlG/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B08TLVBp-ch/
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LadyFinn · Aug 24, 2019

At Instagram of the Royal Palaces

In contrast to the palace's austere architectural features in Roman palace style, the southern façade has a varied and vibrant sculpture embellishment - an expression of Roman Baroque style already found in Tessin's original façade drawings. Tessin intended, among other things, to produce triumphal motifs of warlike nature and tributes in the large flat areas of the central party. That was not the case. How the construction progressed was communicated by letter, where the king severely disrupted that part of the project with "disgust for flattery and banter and a pronounced reluctance for statues and inscriptions".
Photos 1.2: Nicodemus Tessin d.y's drawing, 1700-1704, of the central part of the southern facade. Here is Tessin's original idea with women's sculptures on the roof balustrade that symbolize courage, justice, love, etc., as well as the reliefs with tributes and warlike motifs. Source: Castle Architecture Office.
Photos 3-5: Slottsbacken today.
Photo 6: Slottsbacken and the southern facade 1940. Here you can see the tribute text to Karl XII, which was first added in the late 1800s due to the resistance of Karl XII. See translation in post below.
Photo 7: The equestrian statue, depicting Karl XIV Johan when he as Crown Prince arrives in Stockholm in 1810, now has his permanent residence on Slottsbacken. In connection with the reconstruction, the statue was moved to the Royal Palace after 164 years at Slussen.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1bL9R7iD2E/

The Palace's four facades all have their own special character. The northern façade, tight and easily held and with its double ramps facing the north portal, dominates the city. The southern facade is the magnificent facade, designed as a Roman triumphal arch with tributes to Charles XII. The west side is the king's side, with warlike attributes and medallions of Swedish kings from Gustav Vasa to Karl XI. The eastern, more graceful and informal side that faces Saltsjön and Logården was the Queen's.
Take the opportunity to enter the Palace via Lejonbacken (north side). During the summer months and even this weekend, the newly restored Northern archway is open, leading into the Palace's inner courtyard. There is a summer café here that also serves light lunches.
1. East side, photo Sanna Argus Tirén
2. North side, photo Sanna Argus Tirén
3. Lion sculpture at Lejonbacken, photo Raphael Stecksén
4. Summer cafe at Inner courtyard
5. The west side and the Palace's Outer courtyard, photo Sanna Argus Tirén. Here the guard parade with music choir performs its program.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1N5o0WB9BO/

At Facebook of the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren)
Do you work at a retirement home or a day care for the elderly? Maybe you know someone who lives in a retirement home that you can tip? The Royal Armoury has three memory boxes that are about royal weddings to lend to such activities. The boxes contain pictures, facts and props that stimulate several senses. The purpose of the boxes is to give users a pleasant moment and an opportunity to remember and talk about the weddings royals, others and possibly their own weddings. Borrowing the box is free, but the borrower picks up or pays the shipping cost. We ship to all over the country!

https://www.facebook.com/Livrustkammaren/photos/a.116255155099787/2322834744441806

LadyFinn · Sep 21, 2019

Instagram of the Royal Palaces
Originally, the White Sea Hall was two rooms, the room for the queen trabants and the queen's dining hall. The latter was called the White Sea even before the merger. In a remodel in 1845, under the direction of architect Axel Nyström, the room got its current appearance. The middle wall was torn down and the new room became a banquet and ballroom for Oskar I and Queen Josefina, whose name tag is on the music stand.
Domenico Francia has performed the ceiling painting in the northern part of the room and the southern ceiling of the ceiling. Francia's skillfully painted shine perspective is best viewed in the middle part of the window wall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2n7DQ-ps_f/

Aerial view of the Royal Palace and Stockholm Cathedral, by Jonas Borg.
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LadyFinn · Oct 13, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.

The Gustaf Adolf Square in Stockholm with the north façade of the Royal Palace in the background. Hand coloured etching by Johan Fredric Martin (1755-1816), early 19th century.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WY3-up3Ws/
Stockholm with the Royal Palace a winter’s day in the early 19th century. The Royal Stables (now replaced by the Parliament building) is the long low building on the right hand side. Painting by Elias Martin (1739-1818), older brother of Johan Fredric Martin.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WaNJApNSW/
The south and east façades of the Stockholm Royal Palace seen from Skeppsholmen. Oil painting by Elias Martin, early 19th century.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WbF0Jp_XQ/
The Stockholm Royal Palace painted in 1848 by the marin painter Pehr Wilhelm Cedergren (1823-96).
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Gustaf III with his family dining ‘in public’ on New Years Day 1779. Gustaf moved in to what is know called the State Apartment in the Royal Palace when married the Danish Princess Sophia Magdalena in 1766. The courtiers are all wearing the official court dress introduced by Gustaf III. This room was redecorated in the 1860s by Carl XV and now serves as the Council Room.
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The Council Room in the Royal Palace in the 1890s during the reign of Oscar II (1829-1907). The kings held council meetings with the government here every Friday up until 1975 when the new constitution abolished them. Today the government ministers meet the king here a few times a year to keep him informed of their work.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3WhyweJttF/
The Council Room as it looked in the late 19th century. The room had been redecorated by Carl XV in time for his only daughter Louise’s wedding in 1869 to the Danish Crown Prince Frederik (VIII). The architect Fredric Wilhelm Scholander hung tapestries from Les Gobelin with the story of Jason and Medea given by Louis XV to Gustaf III on his visit to Paris in 1771. It was used as a grand reception room with an elaborate suite of giltwood Louis XV sofas and armchairs, sadly missing today. Maybe they are kept in storage somewhere waiting to be returned? After Oscar II succeeded his brother Carl XV in 1872, he made this council room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3aQ2T2JOgq/
The Council Room in the Stockholm. Next to the king’s armchair is a chair placed for Crown Princess Victoria who generally participates in the council meetings that takes place three to four times a year when the Swedish government comes to the palace to keep the king informed of what the government and parliament are doing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3W7CrEJfyM/
Three pairs of near identical Louis XIV armchairs line the Council Room. They are Swedish made in the French style in the late 17th century for Mälsåker, a grand country house, and they were bought at auction in the late 19th century by King Oscar II.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3W8ENpJMfR/

LadyFinn · Oct 19, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
An amazing South German automation purchased in 1654 by Friedrich III, Duke of Schlesvig-Gottorp (his daughter Hedvig Eleonora became Queen of Sweden when she married Carl X Gustaf). After Denmark conquered Schleswig to automation ended up in Copenhagen where the Swedish explorer Adolf Eric Nordenskiöld bought it and presented it to Carl XV of Sweden in the 1860s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3W9yzfpblt/
A corner detail of the elaborately decorated ceiling with the royal coat of arms of the king’s of Sweden designed by Fredric Wilhelm Scholander in the late 1860s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3aUJZGJQ40/
Five enormous cut crystal chandelier by J & L Lobmeyr, Vienna, made in the 1860s, hang from the ceiling in the Council Room. The one in the centre is the largest in the palace with a diameter of c. four and a half metres. The height of the ceiling is nearly seven metres.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3afpZ6JYyS/
The State Apartment is situated on the top floor of the north range which was rebuilt by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger for Carl XI in the 1690s before the devastating fire in 1697 destroyed most of the old castle Tre Kronor. The north range withstood the fire and three Baroque ceilings decorated by French artists survived.
This is the ‘Audience Room’, intended to be Carl XI Bedroom, and was later an Anteroom decorated in 1766 when Gustaf III as Crown Prince moved in. It has never been used as an audience room but was furnished in the second quarter of the 20th century as one with four Delft tapestries, part of of a large set commissioned for the coronation of Queen Christina in 1650.
The throne canopy in this photo also belonged to the queen and is North Italian 16th century. The female figures, of which the one on the right is based on a design by Botticelli, could be older. This unique and well preserved piece is now in storage as it is too fragile to be on permanent display.
This apartment was last lived in by Carl XIV Johan (Bernadotte) from 1823. After his death in 1844 it was decided that it would only to be used for state occasions and this is where official dinners and receptions are regularly held.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3bhobtJEB8/
A photo taken by me last month of the Audience Room as it is now with another throne canopy made in 1667 for Carl XI, constructed from a state bed made for the wedding of Gustaf II Adolph (Gustavus Adolphus) and Maria Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp in 1620. The ceremonial folding stools are from a large set made c 1750 for the palace. A secretaire made for Gustaf III by Gottlieb Iversson in 1778 is now also placed in here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3bkIBcJYx2/
Louis Masreliez (1748-1810), ‘Alexander Cutting the Gordian Knot’. Placed as an overdoor in the Audience Room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3blFfqJJyn/
Gustaf III’s State Bedroom was decorated by Jean Eric Rehn after the king had successful coup d’état in 1772 when he decided to introduce the French ceremony of the ‘lever’ after pattern from Versailles introduced by Louis XIV. This was when the king received courtiers in the morning when he was being dressed. A privileged few were invited in behind the balustrade where the now missing state-bed once stood. The king never slept here, he had a small comfortable bedroom on the floor below.
This room was to be the scene of the tragic end of Gustaf III’s life. He was brought here after being shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström at a masked ball in the Opera House. The king died in agony after two weeks later on 29 March 1792. Rehn kept the Baroque period ceiling and the doors, that had survived the fire of 1697, when he created this interior. Gustaf III’s desk, made by George Haupt, was used by the late King Gustaf VI Adolf and it was placed here after the king’s death in 1972.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3eljX7Jp45/
The bed from Gustaf III is missing, but years ago now they managed to identify the original silk damask in the Royal Collections. The bed itself is lost, but a temporary reconstruction was made, but has now been taken down. The bed would have been decorated with elaborate gold braid and topped by ostrich feather plumages. I should think that Gustaf’s, son the young Gustaf IV Adolph, wouldn’t have wanted to keep the bed in which his father died after being assassinated.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3em2jkpNZx/
The ceiling in Gustaf III’s State Bedroom was painted c 1700 by Jacques Fouquet and Jacques de Meaux and depicts the how the young Carl XII was brought up under the protection of Apollo, Minerva and Hercules.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3f0jfhJ0OJ/
Carl XI’s Gallery is the only room that was completed in the lifetime of the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654-1728). Tessin proudly showed it in 1726 to members of the Parliament, but it wasn’t until 1754 that the royal family finally could move in, 57 years after the great fire. It’s designed by Tessin in the 1690’s and is the central room in the North Range. The inspiration for the design of this Baroque interior is thought to be the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre.
The paintings on the richly decorated ceiling by the French artist Jacques Fouquet glorifies the reign of Carl XI 1660-97 and particularly his war against Denmark. The watercolour sketch by the artist and courtier Carl Stefan Bennet shows the gallery in 1845. He has added the figure of King Carl XIV Johan (who had died the year before) greeting a courtier in here. The gallery is now the scene of the grand state dinners held by the king at the palace.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3g5I9HJr9n/
The central motif of the ceiling shows the victorious Carl XI of Sweden painted by Jacques Fouquet in 1700-22.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3g50bspLN9/

LadyFinn · Oct 22, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The sculptural decor at either end of Carl XI’s Gallery is decorated in 1698-99 by the Frenchman René Chauveau and his Italian assistant Pietro Pagany. Chauveau, who had worked at Versailles, was considered the most important artist working at the Royal Palace at this time. The busts are of King Carl XI and his Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Denmark. Their marriage in 1680 followed the successful peace treaty concluded between Sweden and Denmark after the war between the two countries.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3g7H5oJ-fV/
Carl XI’s Gallery, which is almost 50 metres long, with tables set for two different state dinners for 160 guests each time. The tables are set with the Brazilian Imperial Service once commissioned in Paris from the firm of Odiot by the Emperor Dom Pedro I. It was inherited in 1873 by his wife Dona Maria Amalia’s sister, Queen Josephina of Sweden and has been used for state dinners ever since.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3g8mnEp0GW/
A detail of the ceiling in Carl XI’ Gallery. Nicodemus Tessin originally planned to have two separate cabinets at either end of the gallery symbolising War and Peace (as at either end of the Galerie des Glaces), but in the end only separated the ends with consoles supporting a beam.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3hyYynJGJT/
The ‘Cabinet Blanc’ (White Cabinet), decorated in 1780 by Jean-Baptiste Masreliez, was one of the most important rooms in Gustaf III’s State Apartment. The two gilt armchairs and fifteen stools in here were covered in crimson silk damask which was also used for the curtains and wall hangings. When the king held grand court receptions in Carl XI’s Gallery the royal family and the most senior courtiers and their wives assembled in here before the they entered the gallery lead by the king. In here the people with entrée to the court had assembled and the King first greeted the diplomats before approaching the gentlemen and the Queen the ladies, then they switched sides.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3iOlclpKpd/
Queen Sophia Magdalena’s State Bedroom was built as a pendant to her husband Gustaf III’s State Bedroom on the other side of Carl XI’s Gallery, but it was never used by the Queen for the ceremony of the ‘levée’. The architect Jean Eric Rehn began work with this room in 1775 and Jean-Baptist Masreliez was responsible for the elaborately carved decor.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3i3yhNpfBj/
The ceiling in the Queen Sophia Magdalena’s State Bedroom was painted in 1733-34 by French artists Guillaume Taraval and Antoine Baptiste, which has Svea - the personification of Sweden - in the centre.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3i4adWpozQ/
Other beautiful pieces found in Sophia Magdalena’s State Bedroom are the large Gustavian chandelier, the four overdoors painted by Charles-Joseph Natoire, a set of Louis XVI ormolu appliques and a Louis XVI porcelain clock on the mantlepiece.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3i5XwopQAu/
The Don Quixote Salon (formerly Queen Sophia Magdalena’s Anteroom) is one of the most elegant rooms at the Palace. It is a creation from the second half of the 19th century using period 18th century pieces. The set of tapestries from Les Gobelins woven in Paris 1773-76 with motifs from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, after designs by François Boucher, were given to Gustaf III by Louis XVI in 1784 during his visit to Versailles. The tapestries covering the French Louis XV sofas and armchairs by Jean-Baptist Lebas were woven to match. The Baroque doors, originally white painted and richly gilded, were carved by the French sculptor Claude Henrion in the 1690s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3jvFtlJI_E/
A pair of overdoors with paintings by François Boucher purchased in Paris by the architect Carl Hårleman during his trip there 1744-45 for the decoration of the Palace. They were originally placed in the Princess Sophia Albertina’s Audience Room before they were moved here during the second half of the 19th century.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3kRuAypF1_/
Vita Havet (the ‘White Sea’) Ballroom was created in 1845 by the architect Axel Nyström for Oscar I. He removed the wall that separated the Queen’s Dining Room and her Guard’s Room and had the walls covered with marble stucco with gilded decor. The pilaster decorations with Corinthian capitals were kept in the former Guard’s Room section, but the other half of the room was redecorated in a late Empire style influenced by Percier and Fontaine. Nyström also added a balcony in an unusual Neo Baroque style for the musicians at one end. The floor is not strong enough to support vigorous dancing any longer so the Ballroom is used as a reception room where guests assemble and are greeted by the royal family before dinner. Guests also return here after the dinner when coffee and drinks are served.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3luceXJINu/
A detail of the Empire style decor in the Ballroom with the Swedish and Norwegian coat of arms designed by Axel Nyström in 1845.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3lvCQrp9RB/
The amazing ceiling in the former Queen’s Guard’s Room, now the Vita Havet Ballroom, that was painted c 1736 by the Venetian Domenico Francia and Frenchman Guillaume Taraval with the assistance of the Swede Johan Pasch. The ceiling, that is almost flat, gives the illusion of being much higher and open to the sky.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3lwDfNJda1/
Three old black and white photos of the Vita Havet Ballroom.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3mobJGJXDz/

LadyFinn · Oct 26, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
A pair of elegant French Louis XVI candelabra on one of the chimney pieces in the Ballroom.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3onEQ-JL2z/
The splendid Rococo decor from the 1730-1740s in Carl XIV Johan’s Bedroom has survived intact. It is surprising that the King, who favoured the Empire style, kept the decor as it was. It is not known for certain who painted the ceiling or the overdoors, perhaps the Frenchman Guillaume Taraval. The room had served as the the Audience Room of Princess Sophia Albertina, then in 1766 it became the future Queen Sophia Magdalena’s Bedroom, until her daughter-in-law Queen Frederica arrived in 1797 and it became her bedroom.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ppwYvp17d/
The Royal Palace has two identical main staircases, the West on the King’s side and the East on the Queen’s. They were designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and takes up the whole widths of the building and goes from the ground floor up to the top floor. Tessin used the Doric order for the ground floor level, Ionic for the first floor and Corinthian for the second. The materials used are different kinds of marble, lime stone and stone painted faux marble. They were completed in the 1740s when it received the perspective architectural motifs by Domenico Francia. The bronze lanterns were designed by Jean Eric Rehn and sculpted by Charles-Philippe Bouchardon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3uJGVCpo93/
The West and East Staircases leads up to the large Vestibules on the top floor that gives access to the State Apartment as well as to the Guest Apartment and the late Prince Bertil’s Apartment. The marble sculpture ‘Juno with the Hercules Child’, commissioned by Carl XIV Johan from Johan Niclas Byström in 1818, is displayed in West Vestibule. During official dinners and state visits, the Vestibules are transformed with carpets, tapestries, flowers and guards in historic uniforms, creating a festive atmosphere.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3uKfESp1Sa/
The Guards’ Room in the Guest Apartment was decorated with simple panelling in 1770 for Prince Fredric Adolph (1750-1803). The Baroque chairs and many of the portraits in here were purchased in the 1890s by Oscar II from an auction held at the country house Mälsåker. It became the designated Guest Apartment for visiting heads of state and other royals in the 1870s, but it had already been used as such since the early 19th century.
Nicholas I of Russia stayed here in 1838 when he came on an unexpected visit. Other important visitors in the 19th century included the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and the King Chulalonkorn of Siam.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3wY50Fphe_/
This table in the Guest Apartment with a marble specimen top, was a gift from Pope Pius IX to Queen Josephina of Sweden and Norway (1807-76). The Queen, who was a devout Catholic all her life, travelled in 1875 to Rome to meet the Pope whom she had been in contact through letters since the 1850s. She also visited Milan on her trip where she was been born when her father Eugène de Beauharnais was Viceroy of Italy. During state visit daily newspapers are laid out on this table for the guests.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xDN5Ppdea/
One of a pair of Russian malachite urns in the Guards Room that were gifts to Oscar I from Nicholas I of Russia in the 1840s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xJ-83pE1S/
Prince Fredric Adolph’s Anteroom was also used as a dining room. It was decorated c 1770, but not much remain of the of the original decorations. The walls were then, as now, covered with a set of late 17th century Brussels tapestries, these with motifs from Ovidii metamorphosis. This Salon was later called the Empire Salon because of the Swedish Empire furniture made in 1823 for Crown Prince Oscar (I). In the corner stand one of a pair of large Russian porcelain vases that were a gift by Nicholas I of Russia to Carl XIV Johan on his visit in 1838. Carl XIV Johan was very keen to have friendly relations with the powerful Russia, the very close neighbour to the East. The Swedes on the other hand had has hoped that the former French Marshal, who was elected Crown Prince 1810 and succeeded as King of Sweden in 1818, would successfully lead an army against Russia and get Finland back. Carl Johan knew this was impossible and saw the necessity of Sweden being a neutral country and not to fight any more wars, a policy still adhered to by the governments since then.
Through the open jib-door is possible to see a small room that serves as a breakfast room for the guests.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B30MV6xpmPt/
The Swedish coat of arms above a mirror designed c 1770 by Jean Eric Rehn in the Anteroom in the Guest Appartement.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B30M95xJKp5/
An Empire armchair from two large sets made by Nils Christian Salton for Crown Prince Oscar (I)’s Apartment in 1823, the year he married Princess Joséphine of Leuchtenberg (a granddaughter of Empress Joséphine of France).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B30NihGpMhR/

LadyFinn · Oct 31, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The Empire clock on the mantlepiece, signed ‘Sirost à Paris’, c 1810, is based on Jacques-Louis David’s painting of ‘The Oath of the Horatii’.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B31pD0OpbUF/
The large ormolu and crystal Empire chandelier in the Anteroom was made for Carl XIV Johan in Stockholm, probably by the firm of Reinhold Linderoth.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B31sSMuJNTq/
Two views of the Meleager Salon in the Guest Apartment taken on different occasions. The large desk was made by Anders Sundström (his Masterpiece) for Gustaf IV Adolph in 1794. The set of armchairs and sofas are from the other of the two large sets made by Nils Christian Salton in 1823 for Crown Prince Oscar (I). This was Prince Fredric Adolph’s Audience Room and it is now named after the set of Brussels tapestries with motifs from the story of Meleager and Atalanta.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B31vOO6JJWm/
This upright mahogany piano was made on 1818 by Johan Söderberg and was later used by Queen Désirée (wife of Carl XIV Johan).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B32uJfLp3Ny/
This portrait in the Guest Apartment of Louis XV by Louis-Michel van Loo was given, with its magnifient giltwood frame, to Prince Fredric Adolph Fredric by the King when he visited France with his brother Gustaf III in 1770-71. Prince Fredric Adolph has the enormous portrait sent home and hung it in his apartment in the Royal Palace, where it still hangs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B32vy09puK6/
A unique survival in the Meleager Salon is the monogram of the former Crown Prince Gustaf (1799-1877) which would have been added after 1803 when he officially would have taken over the apartment after the death of his great uncle Prince Fredric Adolph. I assume it was painted over in 1809 when Gustaf had to go into exile with his family after his father Gustaf IV Adolph’s abdication, but was discovered after the last restoration of the room. All portraits and visible traces of the exiled former royal family were removed after 1809.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B334mOepj6Y/
A nice ensemble of French Empire pieces on the mantle piece in the Guest Apartment! The centre piece is the Minerva Clock, c 1820, attributed to the firm of Gérard-Jean Galle in Paris, who was the main supplier to King Carl XIV Johan. The king had a business agreement with them supplying Swedish porphyry pieces (urns, vases, plinths, table tops, etc) and they sent him candelabra, candlesticks and clocks in exchange. That is why the Swedish Royal Collections have an enormous collection of ormolu pieces. This ormolu clock has a red marble, their exists other slightly different versions with the figure of Minerva in patinated bronze (one example at Château de Malmaison). The firm of Richard Redding Antiques Ltd has had a clock of this design.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B34c7HGJpZH/
The State Bedroom in the Guest Apartment was, as it is the innermost room, the first to be decorated by the architectJean Eric Rehn in 1770. This is where visiting heads of state sleep unless they prefer to have separate bedrooms, then there are two smaller bedrooms, one on each side. Above the pair of beds hang Frans Francken II’s allegorical painting (1630-34) of the Abdication of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1813 the future Queen Josephina of Sweden, Napoleon (her step-grandfather), gave her the duchy of Galliera. Included was a Castle with a large art collect. In the 1837 Josephina sold the Duchy, and had the art collector brought to Stockholm where it is known as The Galliera Collection.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B34pGsOphYr/
Next to the beds stands one of the Savonnerie screens made in the 1740s that were presents from Louis XV to Queen Lovisa Ulrica. It stands in front of a jib-door that leads into one of the smaller bedroom as well a the bathroom beyond. On the console table between the windows stands a large crystal vase from St Louis that was a gift to Gustaf VI Adolf and Queen Louise from President Charles de Gaulle on the occasion on their state visit to France in 1963.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B35PEigJ_eW/
Above the royal Gustavian bed (probably made by Jean-Baptiste Masreliez) is a portrait of Prince Fredric Adolph (1750-1803) by Jonas Forsslund. He was the first inhabited of this apartment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B35QsDFJf72/
In the State Bedroom in the Guest Apartment hangs a portrait of Gustaf, Prince of Wasa (1799-1877), the former Crown Prince of Sweden, who had to go into exile with his family when his father Gustaf IV Adolph had to abdicate in 1809. The Prince, in this portrait by an unknown artist, is wearing an Austrian officer’s uniform as he settled in Vienna and served in the Austrian army. The overdoor painting (one of a pair above the doors in this room) symbolises the ‘Spring’ and is by Boucher, or comes from his studio. It would have been one of a set of four purchased in Paris for the decoration of the Royal Palace. The paintings in here would have been installed here much later as they are too small for the frames.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B35eTncJTVQ/
One of the smaller guest bedrooms. All the smaller rooms in the Guest Apartment have lower ceilings as there is an upper mezzanine floor providing several more rooms upstairs. These smaller rooms were a lot easier to heat and more comfortable that the large rooms during the winters. They also had the practical and effective tiled stoves that gave an even heat for a much longer time than open fire places.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B36TPI_JCpz/
The Pompeian or Inner Salon in the Guest Apartment was decorated in the 1790s for Prince Fredric Adolph. The sofa and armchair are attributed to the chair maker Ephraim Ståhl and made c 1800-1810.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B36VKzXJCiZ/
A ‘lamp à Bouillotte’, Swedish c 1820 in the Pompeian or Inner Salon in the Guest Apartment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B36Vq7_pDhU/
Pompeian style painted decor in the Pompeian or Inner Salon in the Guest Apartment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B36lEwIpLzB/

LadyFinn · Nov 3, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
An ormolu clock by the firm of Galle in Paris, c 1820, of great quality and condition in the Pompeian Salon. I particularly like the detail of the camel on the base, such an unusual motif on a clock like this!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B38sPJsJGnB/
A corner in the Pompeian Salon with a Russian cut crystal, blue glass and ormolu lustre on a small console table.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B395zL3JHPt/
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (d. 1728) managed to present plans for a new royal palace just over a month after the fire in May 1697. It has been thought that he had hoped to be able to eventually rebuild the old castle and had drawn up plans for this, but there were also those who speculates that he might have been responsible for the great fire. Sweden’s economy was good at this time and Tessin believed the palace could be built in six years. That was before all the wars that Sweden was drawn into during the reign of Carl XII.
The young king was interested in architecture and took a keen interest in the work with the palace. Tessin corresponded regularly with the king when he was away on his military campaigns. By the time of the king’s death in 1718, Sweden had lost its position as a great European power and building work had stopped as there was no money available for this ambitious building project. It was to be, with its more than 600 rooms the largest building in Sweden. Work could begin slowly again in 1729, the year after Tessin had died, and the royal family could finally move in from their temporary residence at the Wrangel Palace on December 1754, 57 years after the fire. There was still a lot more work to do with the surrounding area and some of the interiors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4LrgRSpd7z/
The north façade of the Royal Palace engraved in Paris by the Frenchman Sébastien Leclerc in 1695 after Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s design. Carl XI approved of this newly built façade in a Roman Renaissance style inspired by Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The king ordered 800 copies printed to be distributed in Europe so that people could see the the result of this rebuild. Louis XIV received a copy and is said to have approved of the design.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4LyCrIJkhD/
The first floor of the north range of Royal Palace is where King Adolph Fredric and Lovisa Ulrica moved in in 1754. The palace was not only used as a residence for the royal family, it was also the seat of the government. The black and white photo dates from the 1880s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4L1oHeJ_mj/
Tessin gave each of the palace façades a different design. This, the east side overlooks the sea that comes in to Stockholm and meets the great Lake Mälaren at this point. Of the two wings, the one to the right contains the large Bernadotte Library (formerly the Royal Library) with Gustaf III’s Museum of Antiquities below. The other wing was meant to house a court theatre, but that was never built and it contains offices and apartments with Livrustkammaren (The Armoury) in the basement. The present king, Carl Gustaf grew up in this wing, living with his mother Princess Sibylla and his four sisters on the top floor.
There is a small formal garden, Logården, between between the two wings.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4PAOwPpbDR/
These are the gates bearing the crowned monogram of Carl XIV Johan that gives access into the small formal garden, Logården (Lynx Court).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4PBLy6Jcm_/
The stairs from Logården leads up to the east entrance to the Royal Palace. The east side was the domain of the Queen with the garden overlooking the water. The west side was the King’s side overlooking the Outer Courtyard where the changing of the Guards takes place.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4PB0vlpCxk/
The design of the centre of the south façade was given a design based on a Roman triumphal arch by Tessin commemorating Carl XII’s victorious years during the wars in the beginning of the 18th century. This was the ceremonial entrance to the palace where the South Vestibule gives access to the Hall of State and the Royal Chapel, the two largest and most important rooms in the palace.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4PDJHWp6dn/
A detail of the carved oak doors, 1740s, that opens into the South Vestibule of the Palace.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4PHDzlJII8/
The west façade of the Royal Palace is the most richly decorated. Two curving buildings, one for the Royal Guards, form an outer courtyard where the ceremony of the changing of guards takes place every day, Monday to Saturday at 12.15 and Sundays at 13.15.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4QF-0QJKWQ/
A detail of the Doric decoration in stone on the west façade designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4QGeA1prF5/

LadyFinn · Nov 13, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
A colour lithograph by Carl Johan Billmark (1804-70) of a royal carriage driven out from the Royal Palace crossing the Outer Courtyard, probably 1850-1860.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4QgemZJM_j/
Looking in the Inner Courtyard from the West Entrance and Loggia. The large Inner Courtyard is very empty. Tessin had planned a large monument with an equestrian statue of Carl XI in the centre surrounded by fountains. Carl XII didn’t like the idea at all as he feared an assassin might hide behind it, so the sculpture was never cast.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4QvG4xJBST/
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s design from c 1700 for an equestrian monument dedicated to Carl XI which he planned to erect in the centre of the large Inner Courtyard. Sadly Carl XII rejected the project so the courtyard remains empty. In the early 1960s it was proposed to finally realise the project and have the bronze statue cast, and the monument built ready to be unveiled by King Gustaf VI Adolf on his 80th birthday 11 November 1962. The king rejected the idea as he didn’t believe there was anyone today able to cast such a large sculpture of the quality required. The courtyard was instead paved with cobbled stones with a large Pole Star inlaid in the centre. Carl XI had chosen the star as his emblem in response to his contemporary, Louis XIV being the ‘Sun King’, as the Pole Star did not set.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4RtdjTJK3s/
Along the east and west sides of the courtyard there are Italian style loggias, intended by Nicodemus Tessin to be open, but they were enclosed with glass doors very soon because of the Swedish winters with cold weather and lots of snow blowing in. Carl XII liked the idea of the loggias as he wanted to be able to walk around the palace without having to go outside. At the south end of the loggias are two wells with pumps that can be seen in the distance. This was very practical as the royal kitchens were situated next to them. The water was said to be particularly good and it and a few residents in the nearby old town had permission to collect water from here. The two grand staircases that takes gives access to the royal apartments are entered from the loggias.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4UQ0tQpOex/
The South Vestibule (Södra valvet) is the ceremonial entrance to the Royal Palace. It gives accès to the two largest and most important rooms, the Hall of States and the Royal Chapel. Nicodemus Tessin the Younger designed this interior, but the decor wasn’t completed until Oscar II took the initiative for it to be done at the very end of the 19th century.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4VOw_wp0S3/
The North Portico (Norra valvet) was designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and completed in 1695, before the great fire of 1697, which it survived. Tessin was inspired by the Vestibule in the High Renaissance Palazzo Farnese in Rome built by Antonio da Sangallo. The Portico was restored a few years ago, but I can’t help thinking that Tessin would have had it painted imitating marble in darker colours as in Italy. It looks too pale and more early 19th century Neoclassicism now (which I also love), but maybe this is how Tessin wanted it to be.
This portico is normally not open to the public, but it has been during the summer when the royal family is away for their vacation.
The late King Gustaf VI Adolf always had his driver enter this way into the palace with his large black Cadillac after driving up the steep Lejonbacken. This was to avoid driving across the Outer Courtyard where the soldiers where meant to be on parade and salut the king when he was driven past.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4V4bs7pdbS/
When Nicodemus Tessin the Younger planned the new Royal Palace he placed the Royal Chapel and the Hall of State on the south side on either side of the South Vestibule with the palace kitchen directly below. The entrance to the two most important state rooms are on the same level as the mezzanine in order to give them extra height. Tessin designed the Chapel in Baroque, and when the architect Carl Hårleman took over the building work of the unfinished palace after Tessin’s death in 1729, he kept the architecture of the chapel, but gave it decorations in the then fashionable Rococo style The pews came from the chapel in the old castle and were salvaged from the fire in 1697.
It is the parish church for the Royal Parish and service is held every Sunday and holy day, and members of the public is welcome. The Royal Family has used (and still uses) the chapel for baptisms, weddings and funerals for over 250 years since it was inaugurated in December 1754.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YTOEIJmwl/
The pulpit in the Royal Chapel was designed by Carl Hårleman and carved by the French sculptor Adrien Masreliez. It is supported by symbols for the four Evangelists: Matthew is represented by the Man, Mark by the Lion, Luke by the Calf, and John by the Eagle.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YUDpNJwFk/
The organ in the Royal Chapel that is placed on a narrow balcony was designed by Carl Hårleman and has carved decorations by the Adrien Masreliez.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YUW4ZJM2P/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YaC0epZ1y/
The ceiling was painted by Guillaume Taraval in 1745 and completed after his death in 1750 by his pupil Johan Pasch. The large central motif depicts The Ascension of Jesus Christ from Earth to the Heavenly Realm.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Ya1t6pa5X/
Decorations designed by Carl Hårleman in the Royal Chapel.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YbNtzJlhn/
Elias Martin (1739-1818), The Baptism of Prince Carl Gustaf, Duke of Småland, 1782.
When the landscape painter Elias Martin returned from England in 1780, he was hired to paint scenes from Gustaf III’s public life. One of the paintings commissioned was the baptism in the Royal Chapel was the christening of his second son Prince Carl Gustaf. The Silver Throne has been moved in here from the Hall of State for the occasion. This painting now belongs to the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4YcVIEppKU/

LadyFinn · Nov 14, 2019

Press release at court website

Security exercise at the Royal Palace
Thursday, November 14, between 18.00 to 20.00 a security exercise will be conducted at the Royal Palace together with the Stockholm Police and other authorities.
The exercise includes employees from the Police, the Swedish Security Service, the Royal Court, the Armed Forces, the Rescue Service and the health care.
Säkerhetsövning på Kungl. Slottet - Sveriges Kungahus

The Police at its website
Between 18:00 and 20:00, an exercise will be performed at the Royal Palace, as well as its outer and inner courtyard. The scenario will be that a serious incident has occurred. Shooting with blanks will occur.
14 november 14_00, Övrigt, Stockholm _ Polismyndigheten

LadyFinn · Nov 17, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The Hall of State was designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, but completed by his successor Carl Hårleman. It was ready for the State Opening of Parliament in 1755, an annual ceremony that continued until the last one in 1974. The new constitution of 1975 transferred the opening to the House of Parliament (Riksdagshuset) where a much simpler ceremony now takes place. Gustaf III had balconies added around the room to increase the number of people who could sit here. They were removed in a restoration during in 1929-31, except for one used by the Queen and the Princesses during State Opening of Parliament. The Hall of State was used for other purposes as well, balls, large banquets and other festivities were held here, a tradition which continues today. Concerts are held here during the summer and sometimes exhibitions as well. Tessin had wanted the ceiling decorated, but after his son Carl Gustaf Tessin had failed to engage the celebrated Venetian Painter Tiepolo (he asked too much money to come to Stockholm), it was decided to leave it undecorated.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4abXTWJfZA/
Queen Christina’s Silver Throne is the focal point of the Hall of State. It was commissioned as a gift for her coronation in 1650 by her favourite Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie from the silversmith Abraham Drentwett in Augsburg, Germany. It is made in silver on structure of ebony. It has been used by 17 Swedish monarchs ever since. It was altered in 1750 for the coronation when the Swedish coat of arms with the three crowns replaced Queen Christina’s monogram ‘C R’. It was also covered with the present silver brocade at the same time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4aqfcVJURI/
A close-up of the back of the Silver Throne made 1650 by Abraham Drentwett in Augsburg. The crowned coat of arms is flanked by the figures Justice with her sword and scales and Prudence holding a mirror.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4arqcIpgee/
The throne canopy in blue velvet with embroidered crowns and the Swedish coat of arms was designed by Jean Eric Rehn and embroidered in gold and silver in Paris for King Adolph Fredric’s coronation in 1751.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4a-zOlJBL4/
Louis-Jean Desprez (c 1743-1804), Gustaf III opening The Riksdag (Parliament) in the Hall of State, 1789.
Gustaf III summoned a Riksdag in early 1789, at which he put through an Act of Union and Security on 17 February with the backing of the three lower estates. This reinforced monarchical authority considerably, although the estates retained the power of the purse. In return, Gustaf abolished most of the old privileges of the nobility. This helped to increase the hatred of the king by the nobility and a conspiracy to have the king killed and reform the constitution took place amongst the nobility in the winter of 1791-92. Riksdag of the Four Estates, was a Diet, the highest in the country next to the king, was made up of the Four Estates: Nobility, Clergy, Burgers and Peasants. It was dissolved in 1866 and replaced by a two chamber parliament.
The assassination of Gustaf III took place at a masked ball at the Opera House in Stockholm at 16 March 1792. The king was not shot dead, he was wounded and continued to rule as head of state and the coup by the disgruntled nobility was a failure. The wound became infected and Gustaf III died 29 March 1792.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bB_1mJcvS/
Martin Heland (1765-1814), ‘Fackeldans’ performed in the Hall of States after the marriage of Gustaf IV Adolph to Fredrica of Baden on 31 October, 1797. ‘Fackeltanz’ (Marche aux flambeaux) was a pavane for a ceremonial torchlight procession performed with music formerly celebrating a royal marriage in some German courts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bz7TEpkaM/
State Opening of Parliament by King Oscar II (1829-1907) in the Hall of State 21 June 1905 after the breakup of the union between Sweden and Norway. King Oscar loved pomp and circumstance and he was the last Swedish king to have a coronation. His son Crown Prince Gustaf (V) is seated next to him, the empty chair was reserved for the grandson and heir presumptive Prince Gustaf (VI) Adolf who didn’t attend on this occasion as he was away on his honeymoon in Ireland having just married Princess Margaret of Connaught. The Prime Minister is seated on on a stool below the throne to the left and the Lord Marshal (Riksmarskalk) is seated to the right.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4b2dGgpDJ2/
King Gustaf VI Adolf (1882-1973) 15 January 1956 before the State Opening of Parliament. Next to him stands his daughter-in-law Princess Sibylla and his granddaughters Princesses Margaretha and Birgitta. They are dressed in the formal hermine lined black velvet court dress introduced by Gustaf III at the end of the 18th century.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4b3omzpWVl/
The Royal Balcony in the Hall of State at a State Opening of Parliament c 1960. Standing, from right to left is Queen Louise, the Princesses Sibylla, Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina followed by a very young Crown Prince Carl (XVI) Gustaf.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4b4cpapSII/
Crown Prince Carl (XVI) Gustaf attending the State Opening of Parliament in 1965 after he had turned eighteen.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4b5LFNpk-b/
After the marriage of Crown Princess Victoria to Mr Daniel Westling, now Prince Daniel, 19 June 2010, King Carl XVI Gustaf held a wedding banquet in the Hall of State in their honour. The table of honour was set with silver pieces from the Brazilian dinner service made in Paris by the firm Odiot for the Emperor Dom Pedro I.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4b6DHVJN6_/
Photo taken 19 September 1973 when Carl XVI Gustaf at the age of 27 was proclaimed king and presented himself in the Hall of State. He chose to be styled 'King of Sweden', not as previous monarchs, ‘'King of the Swedes, the Goths, and the Vandals (Svea, Göta och Vendes Konung). As he wasn’t crowned, the crown and the regalia are placed on tables on either side of him, and the ermine lined robe is draped over the Silver Throne. The soldiers behind the king are known as 'Carl XI’s Dragoons'.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4dcUCTJWV3/

LadyFinn · Nov 29, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The coat of arms of King Carl XVI Gustaf as Grand Master of the Swedish orders of chivalry (since 15 September 1973 when he succeeded his grandfather).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4jqkE8pMnp/
The Hall of the Order of the Seraphim. This room was designed by the architect and Royal Superintendent Baron Carl Fredric Adelcrantz and was originally the Knights Hall and would have been completed in the late 1750s.
This is where the king would hold regular Chapters with the Chancellor of the Orders and council members of the Royal Orders.
The walls were designed to hold a set of four tapestries depicting battles Carl XI won against Denmark in the 1670s. The present decorations with the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim of papier-mâché from 1866 was commissioned by Carl XV and designed by Fredric Wilhelm Scholander.
In the shallow niches between the windows (where a pair of tiled stoves originally stood) hang copper shields painted with the coat of arms of now living recipients of the Order of the Seraphim. If the new member doesn’t have a personal coat of arms, a new one will be designed by the State Herald after discussing the matter with the recipient.
When a Knight dies, the shield will be transferred to the Riddarholm Church on the day of the funeral and the bells of the church will be rung at 12.00 noon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4k13PKJWW8/
The Siege of Malmö, 1677, woven at the workshop of Philippe Béhagle, Paris, 1697-99. Wool, silk, silver and gold. Delivered to Stockholm in 1699.
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger persuaded Carl XI in 1695 to have a set of tapestries woven after the battle scenes painted by Philip Lemke of the king’s successful war against Denmark in the 1670’s when Sweden finally managed to obtain its natural borders in the south (the provinces Skåne, Blekinge and Halland). The borders were designed by Jean Bérain in Paris. Four of the six intended tapestries were woven and the first delivered in 1699 and the remaining three in 1704, by which time Carl XI had died (1697).
Carl Fredric Adelcrantz designed the Knights Hall in 1750s for the four tapestries and the hung in here until 1866. In the second photo they are seen hanging in the room as intended, but they are now permanently in storage. It is interesting to note that the Danish King Christian V had had 12 tapestries woven in 1685-93 for Christiansborg Palace depicting his victorious battles against the Swedes in the same war.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4mDbN4JZh9/
Details of the gilded decorations in the Knights Hall (now the Hall of the Order of the Seraphim) designed by Carl Fredric Adelcrantz in the 1750s.
The insignia of the Order of the Seraphim is incorporated in the decorations in two of the panels and in the overdoors. The insignia for the orders of the Sword and the Polestar was used for the other panels and two overdoors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4mErJoJfQZ/
The giltwood armchair and one of the two chairs that were made for the marriage ceremonies of Crown Prince Adolph Fredric and Princess Lovisa Ulrica of Prussia held at Drottningholm in 1744. They were later placed in the Knights Hall for the use of King Adolph Fredric and his two eldest sons Crown Prince Gustaf and Prince Carl when the attended a chapter of the Royal Orders. They are still upholstered in the original silk velvet fabric from 1768 woven with patriarchal crosses in black on a white ground.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4mYKAxpQXN/
This is one of twenty four chairs commissioned in 1760 for the Knights Hall. They are painted yellow and not gilded as the chairs used by the royals.
The black and white silk velvet fabric is the original and the whole ensemble of chairs are still in the room they were made for. This model of chairs (based on a French Louis XV design) was also made in great numbers for the royal dining rooms in the palace, again painted and not gilded to mark the difference with chairs for members of the royal family who sat on gilded chairs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4nN0VKJMS_/
This was the First Council Chamber when the Council of the Realm resided here. King Adolf Fredric nominally presided over the Council, but he only had two votes. The Councillors were headed by the Chancery President (equivalent of a Prime Minister). The room is since 1866 called the Hall of the Order of the Polar star.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4p6ejtpWxv/
This was the Second Council Chamber when the Council of the Realm resided here from 1755 to 1789.
The room is since 1866 called the Hall of the Order of the Sword.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4qD9Z3p0ST/
The Hall of the Order of the Sword has papier-mâché decorations designed by Fredric Wilhelm Scholander in 1866 for King Carl XV. The Apartment of the Royal Orders were used by the Supreme Court of Sweden 1789-1949, but it was also used for the royal processions on the way to the Hall of State.
Oscar II had an annual ball (The Oscar Ball) in January when 3,000 guest were invited and the members of Parliament dined in this suite of rooms on those occasions.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4qEqzipkcM/

eya · Dec 1, 2019

Happy first Advent! Today, the Christmas trees are lit at Logården by the Royal Palace and light up in the December darkness.

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https://scontent.fath4-2.fna.fbcdn....=b831b9b712be1833601dcab8223ce590&oe=5E87CE3E
https://scontent.fath4-2.fna.fbcdn....=65d657605840435275bb510a63520e35&oe=5E487F4F
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LadyFinn · Dec 5, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The apartment King Adolph Fredric and Queen Lovisa Ulrica loves into in the new Royal Palace in Stockholm in December 1754 is on the first floor (‘Piano Nobile’). The King’s apartment was entered from the West Staircase, the Queen’s from the East Staircase. The two separate parts was joined with a long Gallery in the centre. The first room in the King’s apartment was a Guards Hall (Stånddrabantsalen) decorated with simple panelled walls designed by Carl Hårleman in the 1730s. Here guards were on duty day and night. All apartments in the palace had a Guards Hall, but the King and Queen has two each to mark there elevated status.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5RFT3MJXC4/
The second of the King’s Guards Halls (Livdrabantsalen) was where the King’s Life Guards controlled the entry into the King’s Apartment. The King’s pages, young men of aristocratic birth, were also on attendance in here ready to serve His Majesty. During the time of Gustaf III the room was used as a small dining room and at the end of the 19th century it became Oscar II’s Billiards Room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5RHaFdpWpD/
In the King’s Second Guards Hall hangs this monumental painting by Pehr Krafft the Younger of the coronation of Carl XIV Johan (born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) that took place in the Stockholm Cathedral (Storkyrkan) on 7 September 1818. This very detailed painting, commissioned by the king took years to paint, and is signed and dated in 1824 when it was finally finished.
The first king of the new Bernadotte dynasty that is still on the throne in Sweden today.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5RKkWrpUIc/
The King’s Large Anteroom, now called the Pillared Hall (Pelarsalen) also served as his Dining Room. It was an important ceremonial room as it was here King Adolph Fredric and the Royal Family dined in state served by noblemen from their court with courtiers and others invited surrounding them to watch. King Adolph Fredric is said to have remarked that he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to come to see him eat when they could be at home sitting comfortably in an armchair!
The room, designed by Carl Hårleman, was one of the earliest to be finished in this apartment in 1737. Gustaf III has the room modernised in 1780-82, giving it a more Neoclassical style. He kept the Ionic columns, added more pilasters and new over-doors designed and carved by Jean-Baptiste Masreliez. He also removed two large still-life paintings with fruit and flowers by Antoine-Baptist Monnoyer and replaced them with large mirrors. Two new fireplaces in Italian marble was installed. He also commissioned the two marble statues from Johan Tobias Sergel of Venus and Apollo for the room. Gustaf III used as a dance salon and furnished with chairs and benches. He had it painted white with gold decorations instead of the faux marble painted walls.
This room was restored in the 1940s when the original paint effect was reinstated. Johan Pasch’s painted decor from the 1750s in the window recesses was found under later layers of painted. This room is frequently used today for various receptions by the Royal Family.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5U9fhXJdmJ/
One of the five new Gustavian overdoors designed and carved in 1780 by Jean-Baptiste Masreliez for the Pillared Hall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5V1cylpzMY/
The ceiling in the Pillared Hall was painted by the Italian artist Alessandro Ferretti with Mother Svea, the personification of Sweden, with lion sleeping peacefully by her side.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5V37yeJjjE/
Two French ormolu and marble clocks in the Pillared Hall. The first one is signed by the bronzmaker André-Antoine Ravrio (1759-1818).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5WTSVypq_P/
The Victoria Salon was decorated for Carl XV in the 1860s by the architect Fredric Wilhelm Scholander in a Rococo Revival style. It was named after a statue of ‘Victory’ that once stood in here, not after the Queen with the same name. The enormous carpet, 20 meters x 8 meters, was woven in one piece in Stockholm, but the three crystal chandelier were imported from Vienna. Sadly the old silk on the walls is now very faded and the gold embroidered decor has turned black with oxidisation. The sofa and chairs have been recovered in simple cotton velvet replacing the original silk velvet.
It was Gustaf III who had this room created when he had his late father King Adolph Fredric’s former Anteroom and Audience Room turned into one large ‘Grand Cabinet’ around 1780. The only thing remaining from that time are two white Italian marble fireplaces on the window wall.
This room is today used by the Royal Family for Diplomatic receptions.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YORyJJyd0/
This extraordinary cabinet made of Sèvres porcelain, the largest piece ever produced, is decorated with Chinese scenes. It was made in the 1840s during the reign of King Louis Philippe I of France and was given by Emperor Napoleon III to King Carl XV of Sweden and Norway, his first cousin once removed.
It had been in storage, probably since the late 19th century, until it was lent to a Sèvres exhibition in Paris in the 1980s. When it was returned from Paris, opinion of it would have changed, and it was given pride of place in the Victoria Salon, the creation of Carl XV. Carl XV who was a great Francophile visited Paris and his cousin the Emperor, but Napoleon III never came to Stockholm. His son, the Prince Imperial, did come to visit from his English exile in 1878 and travelled around Sweden and Norway in the company of the then Crown Prince Gustaf (V).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YvA_NpfWw/

LadyFinn · Dec 9, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
The magnificent Flora bronze and ormolu clock in the Victoria Salon was probably acquired by Carl XIV Johan c 1820 from the firm Galle in Paris together with the pair of candelabra.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YwrNjpcZq/
Detailed photos of the very sorry state of the old and worn silk velvet covering the walls in the Victoria Salon. The gold embroidery has lost all is lustre and is almost black. The furniture was recovered with a cheap cotton velvet, in the 1950s or 1960s. The Royal Palace is not a museum and it is sad to see that a festive room from Carl XV period (1859-72) that is frequently used by the Royal Family looks like this.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5a4kzQJr82/
At either end of the Bernadotte Gallery there is a small octagonal Cabinet, one for the King and the other for the Queen. They give access to the inner, private enfilade of rooms. They were both decorated by Carl Hårleman in the 1730-40s. The 18th century tiled stove in the King’s Cabinet was installed by Oscar II and came from Rosersberg Palace. King Oscar II used this as his Audience Room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5bWytfJpz8/
An overdoor in the King’s Cabinet depicting Mars in the arms of Venus, probably painted by Guillaume Taraval.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5bYGaKpG_V/
The central room in the King and Queen’s Apartment is the Bernadotte Gallery, originally known as the Queen’s Gallery or Small Gallery.
It was designed by the architect Carl Hårleman after his return from a trip to Paris in 1732. The gallery was intended to have a set of eight views of Swedish Royal Palaces alternated with four large mirrors and six allegorical paintings in the style of Watteau inserted into the panelling. Guillaume Taraval painted the ceiling and overdoors. The interior was never completed as the paintings of the palaces weren’t installed and when Gustaf III took over this apartment, he removed most of the panelling and turned it into a picture gallery. He also placed his collection of antique sculptures, which he had purchased in Rome in 1783-84 in this room (now in the Gustaf III’s Museum of Antiquities). The majority of the important Royal Collection of paintings were transferred to the new National Museum building when that opened in 1866.
Today the gallery it is dedicated to the Bernadotte dynasty with family portraits hanging in here from Carl XIV Johan (r. 1818-44) until Gustaf VI Adolf (r. 1950-73).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5ceNbVpLH3/
In pride of place in the Bernadotte Gallery hangs this full-length portrait of the founder of the present royal dynasty of Sweden, Carl XIV Johan (1763-1844).
The portrait was painted in Paris by François Gérard, who only had time to paint the face in 1810 before the sitter, the then Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo and Marshal of France, left Paris for Stockholm to take up his position as newly elected Crown Prince of Sweden and to be adopted son and heir to the aged King Carl XIII. The portrait was completed by Gérard the following year and sent to Stockholm.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5eIIOFp3u1/
One of my favourite portraits in the Bernadotte Gallery is that of the sixteen year old Crown Princess Josephina (1807-76) painted in Munich by Joseph Karl Stieler. She was the granddaughter of Empress Joséphine of France and married Crown Prince Oscar (I) in 1823, the same year this portrait was painted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5eqq42JUxn/
Oscar I and Queen Josephina had five children and the painting in the centre by Fredric Westin, is that of the four sons, Carl (XV), Gustaf, Oscar (II), and August. The two busts on the table are of Princess Eugénie and Prince August.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5esJ3AJPH1/
Two portraits painted by Anders Zorn of Oscar II (1829-1907) and Queen Sophia (1836-1913). They were the last to live the Bernadotte Apartment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5estA7puF3/
One of a pair of early 19th century carved giltwood Empire console tables in the Bernadotte Gallery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5etsR0JJ3o/
A portrait of the 20-year old Crown Prince Carl (XV) by Friedrich Dürk, 1846. Carl has great charm, was outspoken, uncomplicated, had lots of affairs and was adored by his subjects. He married Princess Louise from the Netherlands, had one daughter, but no son so when he died the crown passed to his younger brother Oscar II in 1872.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5f4ZklJALJ/
King Gustaf V (1858-1950) painted in 1922 by society painter Philip de László.
Gustaf succeeded his father Oscar II in December 1907 and ruled through the two World Wars. He was the last monarch to play an active role in the politics of Sweden and he was the longest reigning monarch, 43 years, a record broken by the present king, his great grandson Carl XVI Gustaf (presently 46 years).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5geR62p8VB/
Queen Victoria of Sweden (1862-1930), painted by the German artist Otto Propheter. She was born a Princess of Baden, who in 1881 married Crown Prince Gustaf (V). Her father was Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden who’s mother was Princess Sophie of Sweden, daughter of the the exiled Gustaf IV Adolph. This is how the present King of Sweden is a descendant of Gustaf III and the old royal dynasties of Sweden.
Because of her poor health Queen Victoria spent a lot of time in Italy, especially on the Island of Capri where she owned a villa near her doctor Axel Munthe’s Villa San Michele. She died in her house Villa Suezia in Rome in 1930.
Victoria was a first a first cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II through her mother and propagated for Sweden to abandon its neutrality and join Germany during World War I. Her husband Gustaf V and the Government of Sweden didn’t agree with her so Sweden held on to its neutrality through both World Wars.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5gftexp5TN/

LadyFinn · Dec 15, 2019

Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
This magnificent set of sofa and armchairs in the Bernadotte Gallery was made in 1803 by Ephraim Ståhl for Queen Fredrica’s Audience Room at Gripsholm Castle.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5ggYdJJGEd/
The second set of seating furniture in the Bernadotte Gallery is a sofa and armchairs made in Stockholm for Carl XIV Johan c 1820 after a model by the Parisian chair-maker Jacob-Desmalter.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5gg9beJUTD/
Here is a close-up of the Mars Clock in the Bernadotte Gallery. It is Swedish made in 1814, if I remember correctly, it was a gift from Carl XIII to his adopted son Carl (XIV) Johan.
The year 1814 was important as it was the last time Swedish troops were involved in a European war in North Germany in the coalition against Napoleon. It was also the year that Swedish troops marched into Norway, then a Danish province, and as result a union between Sweden and Norway was created. This union lasted until 1905. The clock movement was standing on a column on the right hand side, but it was sadly stolen by a visitor in the 1970s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hjTeDpoE-/
A French Empire clock made by the Parisian Firm Galle in the Bernadotte Gallery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hj6UXJhQ3/
Queen Louise of Sweden (1889-1965), when Princess Louise of Battenberg, painted in 1907 by society painter Philip de László in his studio in London. The story is that when she arrived at de László’s studio she was dressed very conventionally. The artist thought this looked boring, so he took a shawl which he swept around her, put a wide brimmed hat on her head and stuck a couple of ostrich feathers in it before he painted her portrait.
Louise had always said she would never marry a king or a widower, but in 1923 she ended up marrying a man who was both, Crown Prince, and future King Gustaf (VI) Adolf. He had been married to Princess Margaret of Connaught whom he had five children with, but she had died and tragically from blood poisoning in 1920.
When the engagement between the Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Lady Louse Mountbatten (as she had become in 1917) was announced in Sweden, it took every one by surprise as no one had ever heard of her. She was a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Britain and a cousin once removed from Princess Margaret of Connaught. Louise’s younger brother was Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, one of her aunts was Alexandra, last Empress of Russia, and she was a cousin of Queen Victoria Eugenie (Ena) of Spain.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hmPuBJfU2/
Queen Désirée of Sweden and Norway (1777-1860), née Clary, painted in 1807 by François Gérard, when she was Madame Bernadotte, Princess of Ponte Corvo. She is seated in the park of her sister Julie’s country estate Mortefontaine. She had been engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte before he met Joséphine de Beauharnais. Her sister Julie was married to Napoleon’s older brother Joseph and in 1798 she married Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte who in 1818 became King of Sweden and Norway. She remained on friendly terms with Napoleon even if he had left her for Joséphine. Ironically Désirée’s only son Oscar (I) ended up marrying Joséphine’s granddaughter with the same name.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hrPb_JqR-/
The Queen’s Octagonal Cabinet. At either end of the Bernadotte Gallery there is a small octagonal Cabinet, one for the King and the other for the Queen. They give access to the inner, private enfilade of rooms. The cabinets were both decorated by Carl Hårleman in the 1730-40s, and the king and queen held their morning prayers in here. A French rock crystal chandelier made c 1700 hangs in here.
This room is today used by King Carl XVI Gustaf to receive new ambassadors accredited to Sweden. The formal ceremonial follows the protocol established for King Oscar II in the 1890s. The ambassador hands over to the king his letters of credit which confirms his or hers appointment after which they have a private conversation in here for about 20 minutes about the ambassador’s country.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kR2pSpMk7/
A close up photo of the decor in the Queen’s Octagonal Cabinet. The beautiful faux marble paintwork (found under later layers of paint when the rooms was restored) was painted by the studio of the painter Johan Pasch.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kSkbXpqsI/
One of a pair of wonderful early 19th century Swedish porphyry urns in the Queen’s Octagon Cabinet. The Älvdalen Porphyry Works in the province of Dalarna was bought by Carl XIV Johan as part of the investments he did after his arrival in Sweden.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5k8AdAJkoY/
This Dutch Baroque table is placed in the Queen’s Octagon Room on the occasions when King Carl XVI Gustaf receives new ambassadors accredited to Sweden.
On the table is placed an ormolu bust of Carl XIV Johan, the founder of the Bernadotte dynasty in Sweden. King Carl Gustaf is the seventh king and seventh generation of the family.
A silver letter opener is also placed on the table, made in 1914 for Gustaf V by the silversmith Karl Anderson in Stockholm. I asked one ambassador a number of years ago if the king used it to open the envelope containing the Letter of Credit the ambassador had handed over. The answer was ‘No, he never opened it.....’
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5meiOqJUNK/
Looking from the Octagonal Cabinet into Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Audience Room and her Anteroom. These rooms were decorated in the period 1730-50 in the then fashionable Rococo style by the architect and designer Jean Eric Rehn.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5mgsoDJrCx/

LadyFinn · Dec 21, 2019

LadyFinn said:
Press release at court website

Security exercise at the Royal Palace
Thursday, November 14, between 18.00 to 20.00 a security exercise will be conducted at the Royal Palace together with the Stockholm Police and other authorities.
The exercise includes employees from the Police, the Swedish Security Service, the Royal Court, the Armed Forces, the Rescue Service and the health care.
Säkerhetsövning på Kungl. Slottet - Sveriges Kungahus

The Police at its website
Between 18:00 and 20:00, an exercise will be performed at the Royal Palace, as well as its outer and inner courtyard. The scenario will be that a serious incident has occurred. Shooting with blanks will occur.
14 november 14_00, Övrigt, Stockholm _ Polismyndigheten

Svensk Damtidning has interviewed police Tomas Koppelman Hellgren

Police Tomas Koppelman Hellgren about the Palace
Leader of operations Tomas Koppelman Hellgren helps the Royal Palace prepare for the crisis. In an exclusive interview with Svensk Damtidning, he talks about the latest security exercise - where two perpetrators ran around the royal corridors.
On Thursday, November 14, the court published a press release on its website and the headline "Security Exercise at the Royal Palace" attracted many. We met Tomas Koppelman Hellgren, 60, who was responsible for the exercise - and who has a special collaboration with the Swedish court and the royal family.
- The Palace is an important place where the head of state works and which is centrally located in Stockholm. Therefore, we must have a high level of preparedness there. We must have routines for how we should act if something serious happens. We did the exercise together with the security police, the Palace guard, the Armed Forces, the rescue service and the medical service.
- It is about identifying our different roles. Who does what? How quickly do we respond? That's what we practice.
Tomas also says that he has trained the staff at the Palace. And after that training was done, this safety exercise was a natural next step.
But how does such an exercise go, then, in concrete terms?
- We created a situation where there were about fifty people who were at the Palace. A so-called public display (which happens every day). Among the persons there were two perpetrators. The idea was that the king would be physically present at the Palace. He wasn't, but we figured he was.
- If it had been a real situation, you would have thought that these perpetrators had also focused on the king.
The royal family is very security conscious
He goes on to say that the king has shown great interest in this work. In fact, everyone in the royal family is very interested in this type of exercise and preparation. Among other things, they have wanted to know how exactly this exercise went, he says.
This time, none of the Palace's hallways and secret rooms were used. Attacks usually happen in public spaces, Tomas explains. But he also wants to point out how incredibly important the Palace guard is.
- The perpetrators are most likely not found at Stockholm Palace. And you should take advantage of that.
Polisen Tomas Koppelman Hellgren om slottet _ Svensk Dam

The Royal Palace of Stockholm, Stockholm

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