Danish Residences General Discussion

[An Ard Ri]

It looks very ,very private and would make a really nice retreat with all the trees.

 

[iceflower]

During the next days the Palace will share some photos of various special chandeliers in the family's residences.

The series starts with the chandelier in the main staircase in Christian VII's Palace at Amalienborg which is also called the Snow Crystal. It is two meters high, one and a half meters wide and has 60 electric candles. The chandelier is of more recent date than the Palace itself (start of construction 1733) and dates back to the beginning of the last century:


** instagram gallery **

 

[Tarlita]

Tis a truly beautifil chandelier a real work of art. Thanks for sharing Iceflower.

 

[iceflower]

You're most welcome!

Today's photos show two chandeliers hanging in the Table Hall at Christiansborg Castle and the chandelier in the Gala Hall in Christian VIII's Palace at Amalienborg. They are identical. "They were originally hung in the Festival Hall at the Royal Palace in Oslo from 1849, but they were sold at auction in the early 1900s in connection with the installation of electric lights at the castle":


** instagram gallery **

 

[iceflower]

Today photos of the beautiful chandeliers at the Knights' Hall at Christiansborg Castle and at the Knights' Hall and Table Hall at Christian VII's Palace at Amalienborg have been shared:


** instagram gallery **

 

[polyesco]

Some amazing photos. What a neat idea to share

 

[Muhler]

Amazing craftsmanship!
And maintenance.

It most take about 70 years (give or take ?) to clean and polish all the chandeliers at Christiansborg!

Does anyone have any idea where you can even purchase such chandeliers nowadays and how much they cost?

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Haderslevhus Castle was located in Haverslev, Denmark. It was the birthplace of King Frederik II of Denmark.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Two sketches of Haderslevus Castle
http://www.lexabc.dk/87/haderslev

 

[Curryong]

The chandeliers do indeed look magnificent, as do their surroundings. But, as has been noted, the cleaning and polishing of them would be a nightmare. And thank heavens no-one’s dropped any in transit!

Was Haderslevus Castle once a hunting lodge?

 

[Muhler]

Had to look it up.

Haderslevhus (*) is from around 1270 and as such is about 100 years younger than the town of Haderslev.
In 1329 the castle was burned down by rebellious Jutlanders. (**) Rebuilt and finally torn down in 1550.
A new building was build on the site, as a mix of a large inn, a citizens house (not a townhall) and a cultural place and that's pretty much the function today.

(*) The word "hus" (= house) in medieval times meant a large stone building that wasn't a church or a cloister. It was typically a castle or a large and imposing residence for an important family.
Most medieval castle ruins in DK ends in "hus" i.e Koldinghus, Hammershus, Haderslevhus.

While towns that grew up around a later castle often have names that ends in "borg" (= castle, after the German word "burg"). I.e. Silkeborg, Skanderborg, Fredensborg etc.

And finally Danish castles and manors that were/are owned or used by the DRF, are called "slot" (after the German word "Schloss"). I.e. Christiansborg Slot, Schackenborg Slot, Amalienborg Slot etc.

(**) Rebellions were extremely common in medieval times. All free men were armed and the cause for an uprising could be a noble who couldn't keep his hands off a respected man's wife or a new tax. Sometimes it was free men and peasantry rebellion against a local noble. At other times nobles and peasants joined up to protest against the king for whatever reason.
The usual pattern was to burn something down and perhaps beat up a representative of the king or a noble. Sometimes someone was killed more or less unintentionally and when it got really serious a castle was burned down and several were killed. That's presumably what happened with Haderslevhus.

When the local noble couldn't handle the situation with the handful of men he had at his disposal, the king would dispatch a representative with a minor escort so smooth things out and that usually did the trick, with the interesting result that the rebels usually helped rebuild what they had burned down.
Sometimes the king dispatched a small company and that show of strength was often enough the convey the message: That's it! No more rioting! Get it!?!
It was after all a time were violence were acceptable means of both communicating and reacting. And burning down a manor send a more direct message than a petition to the king.
There were times however, when things did not calm down and that required the presence or at least direct involvement of the king, who could well be a couple of weeks of travel away. The king then had to choose between putting down the rebellion with force, risking a instead ending up with a major rebellion on his hands, or negotiating with the threat of force behind him. - The kings were wise enough to tend to use the latter option.

Of course all these more or less serious uprising were endlessly annoying for the kings and at the end civil war called "The Feud of the Count" in early 1500's the Danish yeomanry was finally disarmed and that put and end to the constant uprisings.

ADDED:
This IMO catching song is about The Feud of the Count. It's a fairly modern song and it used to be a rallying song for Communists and left wing socialists, but is broadly popular now.

Lyrics: Captain Klement's Morning Song

Screen your houses with pitfalls and planks
Whet your scythes till they're cuttingly shiny

Do not fear Rantzau's black army

Silks will give way to homespun clothes

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./



They trade people for money

They bar and shut the gate to freedom

Torment and bind with inheritance and debt

The Earth as if they themselves had created it

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./



Behind the glittering helmets of the rich

Hide scared quivering rascals

The Devil himself has given them

Armours, shields, land, and coin

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./



Wealth, they say, is for the wealthy

The Bible says otherwise

God's son wandered poor on Earth

Didn't exactly get his wages from them.

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./



The Church's black murder of magpies

Must shield itself against the laughter of girls

Gaudy noblemen roosters of rank

Now you will meet the Danish man

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./



The rooster has crowed thrice

Stand fast now, for we are the many

Don't let the future say of us

Wealth defeated us without a fight

/Peasants and carpenters, lads from Jutland

Now we shall be victorious in the count's feud./

 

[Blog Real]

The Royal House of Denmark's new website has a page dedicated to the hunting lodge in Trend.

https://www.kongehuset.dk/slotte-og-kongeskibet/jagthuset-i-trend/

 

[Blog Real]

Hunting estate in Trend

In the Royal House’s hunting area Trend Skov lies a hunting property, which has been the Royal Family’s residence since the time of Christian X.

https://www.kongehuset.dk/en/palaces-and-the-royal-yacht/hunting-estate-in-trend/

Photos:
https://c5.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/Bf718950b/22211989_Mrhba.jpeg

https://c1.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B57174d2d/22211990_ZvciL.jpeg

https://c9.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B5018f0a2/22211991_4Ldhz.jpeg

https://c10.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/Bee17f999/22211992_uZgEq.jpeg

https://c2.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B25177e59/22211995_TCkW5.jpeg

https://c4.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/Ba617daa2/22211996_Iivt5.jpeg

https://c8.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B44172a21/22211997_L86g4.jpeg

More Photos:
http://maryfromthestart.blogspot.com/2017/10/trend-hunting-lodge.html

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Danish Christmas at Fredriksborg Castle

 

[Muhler]

The gossip magazine Se & Hør this week has an article about the costs of heating the royal residences.

We are all familiar with the explosive rise in the cost of heating and electricity. (Groceries has also gone up, but fortunately not that much.) That of course also applies to the royal residences. Being huge places with large rooms and high ceilings they take quite a lot of energy to heat! So no doubt that does cost the DRF quite a lot of money. Fortunately the lockdowns in connection with Corona has meant that they have been able to save a good deal of money.

In regards to heating and insulation, there is no doubt that the mansion M&F live in at Amalienborg is the most modern and energy efficient, so I think M&F will get a bill for heating that is manageable.
QMII's manor is less modern, but there is only her and a LiW and an adjutant on duty, so there should be a limit to how much space she really needs. So I imagine several rooms are de facto closed down - not least in the light of the death of PH. (We often see something similar with ordinary family homes, once the children have left home. After a few years it's not uncommon to see most of the upper floor basically being closed down.)
Gråsten is hopelessly out of date in regards to heating and so is Marselisborg and Fredensborg. But apart from a week around Christmas, they are closed down for the winter anyway. So I don't think the heating bill there is that high after all. Not least because modern thermostats are so efficient.

As for electricity. Well, there are hardly anyone left in DK who don't used energy-saving lights now. They are simply too cost-efficient and too good and lasts too long for any household budget not to use them. So that leaves household appliances. And QMII don't watch much TV, she doesn't use computers, mobiles, laptops, playstations and what not, so the bill for what she does use should be manageable.
M&F's household however...!! I think they can feel the electricity bill going up!

The DRF pay the bill for the interior upkeep of their residences, while the state pay for the exterior upkeep and major repairs.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

The mention of the electricity reminds me of the story when Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia was residing in Denmark and used a lot of electricity to have the lights lit. This did not please her nephew King Christian X.

 

[Muhler]

I guess she'd forgotten the modest life of her childhood.

 

[Prinsara]

I guess she'd forgotten the modest life of her childhood.

They didn't have electricity then.

It’s also possible the very intelligent Minnie did come to comprehend what a utility bill was — and just kept doing it to assert her remnant of empress-status and annoy Christian, anyway.

 

[Muhler]

They didn't have electricity then.

It’s also possible the very intelligent Minnie did come to comprehend what a utility bill was — and just kept doing it to assert her remnant of empress-status and annoy Christian, anyway.

Not unlikely IMO.

I imagine Dagmar sometimes forgot that she was no longer Tsarina. And Christian X, who at the best of times didn't think too highly of women, (except for Ingrid) would probably be easy to annoy. ?

 

[JR76]

They didn't have electricity then. [emoji38]



It’s also possible the very intelligent Minnie did come to comprehend what a utility bill was — and just kept doing it to assert her remnant of empress-status and annoy Christian, anyway.

Dagmar did exactly that. When her nephew asked her to be more economical in her use of the electrical lights she ordered her staff to light every lamp in the palace to piss him off

 

[Prinsara]

Dagmar did exactly that. When her nephew asked her to be more economical in her use of the electrical lights she ordered her staff to light every lamp in the palace to piss him off

I mean, on the one hand, it’s Christian’s house and he had a reasonable point (although we don’t know how politely he asked her). On the other hand… well, it’s a funny story, as long as you’re not Christian.

 

[Muhler]

In contrast to the Belgian royal family, the DRF will not put royal residences at disposal for Ukrainian refugees.

Lene Balleby of the PR office explains that the residences have a number of security features that are not for public knowledge, like safe rooms, security doors, video surveillance.
Anyway, apart from Marselisborg they belong to the state.

- It is of course a nice symbolic gesture but royal residences are not the most practical for housing a larger number of people.
Taking over a hotel would be cheaper and better than converting a royal residence or for that matter any other state owned mansion.
And integration, housing, schooling and employment of the Ukrainians is the responsibility of the municipalities.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Royal costumes in Koldinghus Castle in Kolding, Denmark
http://www.alamy.com/koldinghus-castle-rioyal-costumes-image259647634.html

 

[Blog Real]

Klitgaarden - or "The King's Village", as many called it in Skagen (..)


https://da.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klitgaarden

 

[Blog Real]

Why doesn't the Royal Family have residences in Greenland and the Faroe Islands?

 

[Muhler]

Why doesn't the Royal Family have residences in Greenland and the Faroe Islands?

Well, in a sense they had.

There is a "kongsgård" or rather the ruins of a royal-farm on the Faeroe Island, which would of course be used by the king should he visit, but on a day to day basis it would be the local magistrate who would live there and act as a kind of small governor.

The administrative building, or rather building complex today would be the Parliament which, had the islands not been autonomous, would act as a royal residence.

But visit to both Greenland and the Faeroe Islands are simply to infrequent to merit having an appropriate building just standing there.
And there are two more factors:
A) A political factor. There would be a good deal of political and public opposition (and a much welcome reason for opposition) on the Faeroe Island should there be a permanent DRF residence there. Because there is a very considerable independence movement (so long as they don't have to foot the bill for being independent...) on the islands.
B) In Greenland because of the distances involved. For official visit it is simply easier and more convenient with having a sailing residence like Dannebrog.

 

[tommy100]

Ah good points as always Muhler! I didn’t know the Fareo islands had a large independence movement, thats seems pretty unique for the DRF who seem to be generally very popular and supported everywhere else.

I hadn’t thought of the royal yacht but of course it takes a great residence for the odd visit. I wonder what they’d do if / when the yacht is no more.

Obviously he has only just turned 18 and university and further adventures await but is there any residence lined up for Christian already? Frederik seemed to only get his own place when he married but i assume he wasn’t still living with his parents before that?

 

[Muhler]

Ah good points as always Muhler! I didn’t know the Fareo islands had a large independence movement, thats seems pretty unique for the DRF who seem to be generally very popular and supported everywhere else.

I hadn’t thought of the royal yacht but of course it takes a great residence for the odd visit. I wonder what they’d do if / when the yacht is no more.

Obviously he has only just turned 18 and university and further adventures await but is there any residence lined up for Christian already? Frederik seemed to only get his own place when he married but i assume he wasn’t still living with his parents before that?

Frederik lived in an apartment at Amalienborg and that's where Mary lived too after she moved to DK, even though she had an official address elsewhere.

When Dannebrog departs for the big ocean in the sky, she will almost certainly be replaced by a new yacht.
She is such a big crowd pleaser and very convenient as a sailing residence and there is a long and proud maritime and ship building tradition in DK, not to mention that we compete with USA about 5th or 6th place in regards to having the largest merchant fleet in the world, (sailing under the Danish flag or controlled by Danish shipping agencies) so there is a lot of incentive to build a new one. But this time the current Dannebrog will almost certainly become a museum ship, the first Danneborg (a paddle steamer) was unfortunately not preserved.

Apart from the current residences there are some additional manors that can be used by the DRF if need be. Sorgenfri Manor, where the Rosenborgs lived being the most obvious. It's simply a question of funds.
But should Christian study in Aarhus and like it a lot, he could move in at Marselisborg.
But the most likely option will be that he moves in at Kancellihuset at Fredensborg when QMII is no more. Perhaps with his siblings because there will be some renovations going on at the buildings next to Kancellihuset. As these building used to be stables there should be plenty of room for two or three apartments with a communal garden.

 

[SirGyamfi1]

I guess she'd forgotten the modest life of her childhood.

Easy to forget once she became Tsarina with all the jewels and money to enjoy.

 

[Blog Real]

Queen Margrethe's former summer residence in the small town of Allindemagle, north of Ringsted, has been put up for sale.

The Queen received this residence as a gift on her 18th birthday in 1958 from the cooperative Danish Farmers' Associations.

Se billederne: Dronning Margrethes gamle gård er sat til salg

Fra 1958 til 1970 tilbragte en ung Margrethe flere somre i den femlængede gård, hun fik i 18-års gave

www.seoghoer.dk