Until 1794, the Danish royal family lived on the Copenhagen island of Slotsholmen. The last residence was called Christiansborg, which was built on the foundations of the castle of Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen. After the fire of 1794, the royal family moved, apparently temporarily, to Amalienborg. On the night of February 26 to 27, 1794, the Danish royal palace in Copenhagen, Christiansborg, burned down. The relatively new palace, which had only been inhabited for 54 years, suffered from a poor and complicated drainage system, had no fire walls and wood remains were stored on the top floor. This, in combination with poorly swept chimneys, meant that it took no more than a small stove fire to burn down the first Christiansborg. The second Christiansborg would also fall prey to the flames almost a century later. The Christiansborg that we know today, which houses the Danish parliament, is the third palace to bear this name.
Looking for a new home
In the first night the royal family was; King Christian VII, Crown Prince Frederik and his wife and Princess Louise Augusta and her husband, the Duke of Augustenborg, housed in various palaces in the city. The king and the crown prince ended up in Gjethuset on Kongens Nytorv – this building had to make way for the Royal Theater built in 1874 -, other family members ended up in the Rosenborg Palace. In the hunt for more permanent housing, they soon ended up at Amalienborg, located in the new Frederiksstaden district.
Construction of Amalienborg
Frederiksstaden, located north of the old city center, was created in the second half of the 18th century, on the initiative of King Frederik V. The upper middle class and nobility were encouraged to build new houses and palaces here with tax breaks and free building land. This also includes wealthy merchants and high-ranking people at the court, such as Moltke, Levetzau, Løvenskiold and Brockdorff. It was these four gentlemen who – under pressure from the king – had four large palaces built on the site where the Sophie Amalienborg Palace once stood. The design of these four – practically identical from the outside – palaces, surrounding a symmetrical square, was in the hands of the Danish architect Nicolai Eigtved, who also designed the nearby Frederiks or Marble Church. The architect took inspiration for this example of Danish rococo from buildings such as the Japanese Palace in Dresden and the Palazzo Madama in Turin. Eigtved had to take over the assignment through a tender, but was given the green light to implement his design in 1749.
Economic problems forced Severin Løvenskiold to withdraw from the project as early as 1754, he sold his palace to Countess Anne Sophie Schack. In 1760, Brockdorff sold his palace to the royal family, who established an officer training school for the navy there. The other palaces were practically uninhabited when the royal family took shelter there in 1794.
Amalienborg becomes royal
King Christian VII moved into Moltke’s palace, the driving force behind the construction of Amalienborg, which was soon renamed Christian VII’s Palace after him. The crown prince came to live in the adjacent palace. The palaces of the king and the crown prince were connected with a classicist colonnade, so that the crown prince could enter his father’s palace unseen. This was necessary because the later King Frederick VI ruled for years in the name of his father, who suffered from schizophrenia. The crown prince’s palace was the Schack Palace, which is today known as Christian IX’s Palace. The fact that the royal residence at Amalienborg was temporary in nature was taken into account is evident from the fact that the colonnade mentioned was made of wood. However, the family would no longer leave and the colonnade also remained standing.
The palace now
The four palaces of Amalienborg are named after the kings who first inhabited the palace in question.
- Christian IX’s Palace (south wing) : The palace of the then Crown Prince Frederik is the current residential palace of the reigning Danish Queen Margrethe II and Prince Consort Henrik. Every year, on April 16, tens of thousands of Danes gather under the balcony to noisily congratulate the Queen on her birthday.
- Frederick VIII’s Palace (northern wing) : The adjacent Brockdorff Palace, where the officer training school was once located, has recently been completely renovated to serve as the home of the current Crown Prince Frederik and his family. Until 2000, this palace was the residence of his grandparents, King Frederick IX (1899-1972) and Queen Ingrid (1910-2000).
- Christian VIII’s Palace (East Wing) : Christian VIII’s Palace, home to Prince Joachim (the Queen’s second son), was last occupied by King Christian X (who reigned during World War II) and Queen Alexandrine . This palace now houses the Amalienborg Museum.
- Christian VII’s Palace (West Wing) : Christian VII’s Palace is the only palace that has not been in permanent residential use since the death of its first resident. Nowadays it is used as a guesthouse and, just like Christian VIII’s palace, it is (although limited) accessible to the public.
More information about the residents of Amalienborg in the special about the Danish royal family since 1863.
read more
- Borgen – This is where it takes place: Christiansborg Slot
- Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark
- Christian VII of Denmark, the schizophrenic king
- Christian X of Denmark, wartime king
- Margrethe II of Denmark, the second, or the first?