Monday 15 November 2010

Crown princessly couple move into Haga Palace

Today Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have moved into Haga Palace, the royal court has announced. The renovation of the palace was completed this summer, but the crown princessly couple’s cramped schedule has meant that it was only now that they had time to make the move. The royal court has promised that interior photos will be released later.
The small, neoclassical palace in the Haga Park in Solna, just outside Stockholm, was built in 1802-1805 by the architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell. It is adjacent to the exquisite Gustaf III’s Pavilion and the so-called “ruins” of the huge palace which Gustaf III intended to build, but which was left unfinished when he was assassinated in 1792.
His son, Gustaf IV Adolf, found his father’s pavilion too small to house a family and had a new built to accomodate his children. It was thus first known as “the children’s mansion”, but acquired the name “the Queen’s Pavilion” during the reign of Carl XIII, when Queen Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta stayed there in the summers.
The future Oscar I also spent summers there with his family, but it was only his widowed daughter-in-law, Princess Teresia, the Dowager Duchess of Dalecarlia, who made it a permanent home. After her death in 1914 it was used by Prince Erik, the mentally challenged youngest son of Gustaf V. Following his death in 1918 it was opened up to children who had lost their homes as a result of World War I.
The most famous royal inhabitants were the parents of the current king, Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla, who moved into Haga Palace following their wedding in 1932. Their four daughters became colloquially known as “the Haga princesses” and the future Carl XVI Gustaf was born at Haga on 30 April 1946.
Nine months later Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in an airplane accident and in 1950 the widowed Princess Sibylla moved to the Royal Palace when Haga was due to undergo repairs. However, she decided to remain at the Royal Palace and in 1966 King Gustaf VI Adolf renounced his royal right of disposal in favour of the government.
The government subsequently used the small palace as a conference centre and guest house. In April last year Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt announced that the government had decided to return the right of disposal to the royal family in order for it to serve as a home for Crown Princess Victoria and her family.

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