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Marselisborg Palace

In 1661 King Frederik III was debt-ridden and was forced to hand over to one of his crown properties to a major creditor – a Dutch merchant named Gabriel Marselis who supplied weapons and salt to the Danish government. He chose to relinquish Havreballegaard. Thereafter two of Marselis’s sons moved to Denmark from Holland and settled in the Aarhus area. One son, Constantine Marselis later managed to have Havreballegaard raised to the status of a baronetcy – called Marselisborg. The Marselis dynasty was unable to remain in Marselisborg and for 200 years it had a series of different owners.

Marselisborg Palace was given by the people of Denmark as a wedding gift to the Crown Prince Christian (later Christian X) and his consort Princess Alexandrine. They used it as their summer residence. The current palace was rebuilt in 1899 – 1902 by Architect Hack Kampmann.

In 1967 King Frederik IX transferred the palace to his daughter Crown Princess Margrethe (later Margrethe II) and her consort, Prince Henrik. The Royal couple also use Marselisborg Palace as their summer residence.

The 32 acre park was designed by Architect L. Christian Diedrichsen and was laid out in the traditional English style with large sweeping lawns surrounded by trees, small ponds and shrub-covered slopes. Besides a number of works of art, the park contains an interesting rose garden and a herb garden.

When the Queen and her family stay at the palace in the summer, there is a changing of the guards ceremony by the Royal Life Guard at noon.

The Palace is not open to the public, but the park and the Queen’s rose garden is open to visitors when the Royal Family is not in residence.