Tullgarn Palace

Tullgarn was built in the 1720s and became a summer place for the royal family, first under Duke Fredrik Adolf, the youngest brother of Gustav III, and then, most consequentially, under Gustav V and Victoria, who used it heavily from the 1880s. The interiors are largely theirs - late nineteenth-century rooms with the furniture, photographs and hunting trophies in place, which makes it a more domestic building than the state palaces. The park runs down to a bay of the Baltic with an English landscape section, and there is a small farm and a cafe. It is one of the quieter royal properties and stays open only through high summer.

Background

The late 16th century Renaissance castle that once stood here came down in 1719. Magnus Julius De la Gardie, wealthy through his marriage to Hedvig Catharina Lillie, then had the architect Joseph Gabriel Destain design the present house, built between 1720 and 1727. The crown acquired Tullgarn in 1772. Frederick Adolf lived here between 1778 and 1793 with Sophie Hagman, and his sister, Princess Sophia Albertina, spent every summer here until her death in 1829. Gustaf V took it over in 1881. Rococo, Gustavian and Victorian styles mix inside, from a small drawing room decorated in the 1790s to an 1890s breakfast room in the southern German Renaissance manner and Gustaf V's cigar room, little changed since 1950.

Source: Wikipedia, "Tullgarn Palace"

What to look for

• A 1720s house with 1880s interiors - as Gustav V and Victoria used it.
• Domestic rooms - photographs, furniture and trophies in place.
• A park down to a Baltic bay - with an English landscape section.
• A small farm and cafe - the rest of the estate.

When to go

June to August, the only reliable opening. Two hours.

Good to know

The season is very short and interiors may be tour-only. There is no useful public transport. Facilities are limited outside the cafe. The palace is modest next to Drottningholm.

Nearby

Trosa is south; Sodertalje is north.

Key facts