Danish Luxury

Museums Royal castles

Graasten Palace

The Danish royal family's white summer palace at Gråsten in South Jutland, with a Baroque palace church, a romantic landscape garden and a royal kitchen garden.

Address
Gråsten

Visit kongehuset.dk

The white palace and its bell tower seen from the lawns
The white palace and its bell tower seen from the lawns
The palace church with its altarpiece and stucco ceiling
The palace church with its altarpiece and stucco ceiling
Rhododendrons along the lake in the palace garden
Rhododendrons along the lake in the palace garden

Pictures © Graasten Palace, from kongehuset.dk.

Why it is renowned

Graasten Palace has been the summer home of the Danish royal family since 1935, first of Frederik IX and the Swedish-born Queen Ingrid, then of Queen Margrethe and now of King Frederik.12 VisitDenmark names its gardens among the castles to visit in Denmark, for their paths, lawns, woods, lakes and flower beds set in the South Jutland landscape.3 The garden is open to the public when the royal family is not in residence, and the Royal Kitchen Garden, opened in 2020, grows fruit and vegetables for the royal table.1

The story

The first palace on the site was a small hunting lodge from the middle of the 1500s; it burned in 1603 and was rebuilt roughly where the south wing stands today.1 Chancellor Count Frederik Ahlefeldt, owner from 1662, and his son raised a large Baroque palace shortly before 1700.1 Fire destroyed it in 1757, leaving only the chapel and a few pavilions.1 The Dukes of Augustenborg, owners since 1725, had Johann Gottfried Rosenberg build a smaller palace from 1759, and the central building was added in 1842.12 Frederik VII acquired the palace in 1852, the Augustenborgs had it back after 1864, and the Danish state bought it after the Reunification of 1920.1 It served as a court house, judges' housing and a library until an extensive restoration, after which it was handed to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid as their summer residence in 1935.1 The garden, laid out in romantic style at the end of the 1700s, was reshaped in English style at Ingrid's wish after 1939, with open lawns, shrubberies, rose beds and views to the lake and forest.1 The palace church in the north wing has served as a parish church since 1851 and keeps a floor-to-ceiling Baroque altarpiece, a stucco ceiling of angels on a light-blue sky and 75 of its original 80 paintings.1

What to know it by

  • The main palace21759Johann Gottfried RosenbergRococo rebuilding after the fire of 1757
  • Graasten Palace Church1Baroque church in the north wing, survivor of the 1757 fire
  • Graasten Palace Garden1Romantic garden of the late 1700s, reshaped in English style
  • The Royal Kitchen Garden12020Working garden supplying fruit and vegetables for the royal table
Sources
  1. Graasten Palace, The Danish Royal House. kongehuset.dk, read 30 September 2026.
  2. Gråsten Palace, Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org, read 30 September 2026.
  3. 12 castles you should visit in Denmark, VisitDenmark. visitdenmark.com, read 30 September 2026.

Last checked 30 September 2026, against the maker's own pages.