The Danish Royal Family’s Summer Palace Just Got a New Owner
The Danish Royal Family’s Summer Palace Just Got a New Owner
Rachel KingWed, April 1, 2026 at 2:28 PM UTC
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One of the Danish royal family’s most beloved summer retreats has a new owner: the King himself. King Frederik officially took ownership of Marselisborg Palace on March 30. The deal was part of the property transfers associated with his accession to the throne in 2024.
The Royal House confirmed to the Copenhagen Post that the palace was transferred as an inheritance and gift valued at approximately 1.5 million Danish kroner ($233,000), a figure significantly below its 2020 valuation of 41.5 million kroner ($4.3 million).
Then Princess Margrethe and Prince Henrik at the Marselisborg Palace in 1968.Keystone - Getty Images
Marselisborg Palace has been a royal summer residence since 1967, when King Frederik IX made it available to the then-heir to the throne, Princess Margrethe, and Prince Henrik. The couple modernized the estate using “funds the couple had received as a gift from Danish people in connection with their wedding the same year.” Margrethe, who ascended the Danish throne in 1972, used the property as her summer residence until her abdication in January 2024.
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Prince Henrik holds a young Crown Prince Frederik in front of the palace in 1972 during a summer holiday.Hulton Archive - Getty Images
The palace’s origins date to the 17th century, when Dutch merchant Gabriel Marselis acquired a portion of Jutland Crownland from King Frederik III in 1661. His son Constantin established the barony of Marselisborg, which changed hands numerous times before the city of Aarhus purchased what remained of the estate in 1896. The current palace was built between 1899 and 1902, and was constructed as a summer residence for Crown Prince Christian, later King Christian X, and Princess Alexandrine following their engagement in 1897. The project was funded through a public collection and built on land donated by the municipality of Aarhus, nearly 100 miles northwest of Copenhagen. Given the donation, this has given the Marselisborg Palace the enduring association as a “gift of the people.”
Frederik posing in front of the palace in 1991.Luc Castel - Getty Images
The park is open to the public when the royal family is not in residence. A changing of the guard takes place daily at noon when the monarch is staying at the palace. The palace sits within an approximately 32-acre park designed in the English landscape style, featuring expansive lawns, small ponds, a rose garden, and an herb garden.
Queen Margrethe with then-Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary and their children—Princess Isabella, Princess Josephine, Prince Vincent, and Prince Christian—on the balcony of the palace in 2019.Ole Jensen - Getty Images
Outside of their primary residence of Amalienborg in Copenhagen, the Danish royal family has several official residences across Denmark and beyond, including another summer palace that was a former hunting lodge. However, most of these are state-owned and made available to the monarchy under an arrangement renewed at each accession. The privately-owned properties are rarer. Marselisborg is one of them, along with the Château de Cayx, a wine estate in the Cahors region of southern France that the family has held since Queen Margrethe’s late husband, Prince Henrik, brought it into the family.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
