The Royal Apartments

The Royal Apartments at the Royal Palace is a collective name for the magnificent state rooms that are used at The King and Queen's receptions.

In conjunction with His Majesty the King's receptions, an apartment can be completely or partially closed, see Opening hours for eventual closing dates.

See The State Apartments used at gala dinners, cabinet meetings, and parliamentary evenings, The Guest Apartments used as a guest residence for foreign dignitaries on official state visits and The Bernadotte Apartments used at medal presentations and formal audiences.

The well-preserved interior provides historical insight from the 1700s and onwards, where each monarch has left traces of his time. Here you can see Gustav III's state bedchamber, Oskar II's writing room and the most recently decorated room – King Carl Gustaf's Jubilee Room.

The Bernadotte Apartments

The Bernadotte Apartments are situated in the north wing and consists of 14 rooms. The original furnishings date back to the 1730s and 1740s, under the supervision of Carl Hårleman, the chief architect. Before King Adolf Fredrik and Queen Lovisa Ulrika took up residence in the rooms in 1754, a large number of pieces of furniture were commissioned from the foremost Stockholm craftsmen of the period.

Originally the Pillared Hall, in the north-west corner of the apartments, was Adolf Fredrik's dining room. Today the room mainly reflects the 1780s, when it was modernized by Gustav III.

Leaving the Pillared Hall, you enter the Victoria Salon and the splendour of the 1800's. Both the chandelier and the carpet are impressive in size. The room is a fine example of Victorian style.

The Bernadotte Gallery contains pictures of almost all the older members of the Royal Family. The room provides the perfect opportunity to relate the story of Karl XIV Johan and the unsettled early 1800s.

The following room is used for formal audiences. Beside it lies the newly decorated Jubilee Room that represents the skilled craftsmanship of our times.

The last room in the Bernadotte Apartments is also a gallery containing a number of paintings of members of the Royal Family. Here you will see for instance Gustaf VI Adolf, Crown Princess Margareta, and our current King and Queen, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

The State Apartments

The State Apartments consist of nine state rooms. The original plans for this section were made during the Great Power era in Sweden by palace architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. Not all plans were finished, but despite this the rooms are unparalleled in northern Europe.

In the north west corner of this section lies the Cabinet Room. Still today the room is used during cabinet meetings between The King and the government. This room was originally Gustav III's dining room. During his reign many guests were invited to dinner, but only members of the Royal Family ate, watched by the other guests!

A few rooms further in you will find Gustav III's state bedchamber. It was in this room that Gustav III died in 1792 from a gunshot wound he received two weeks earlier at the Royal Opera.

The rooms that follow, known as Karl XI's Gallery, make up a smaller copy of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. You will see an impressive ceiling painting portraying Karl XI's war in Skåne in the 1670s. However, the room is most renowned as the room where today's reception dinners are held. Once again this presents a good opportunity to both learn about the Great Power era and gain an insight into present-day receptions at the palace.

The last room that you will visit during the guided tour is the Palace's ballroom, better known as The White Sea Hall. Nowadays the room is not used so much for dancing but plays a special function during the annual reception dinners.

The Guest Apartments

The Grand Guest Apartments consist of seven rooms and are largely used for state visits. Therefore the rooms are more profusely decorated than one would expect of a traditional 1700s milieu.

The apartments contain furniture from different epochs, most of which was made in Stockholm in either the 1700s or 1800s, and is therefore interesting from a style-history perspective.

In these Apartments, visitors have an opportunity to walk through the mezzanine suite of rooms facing the inner courtyard.

The Hall of State and the
Apartments of the Orders of Chivalry

Also included in the Royal Apartments and the palace ticket are the Hall of State and the Apartments of the Orders of Chivalry.

Top image: The Pillared Hall, photo: Bruno Ehrs