In 1663 Frederik III turned the area, known as the small Deer Park at Ibstrup, over to his valet Jacob Petersen. Petersen ran an entertainment venue on the site. Gyldenlund changed hands on several occasions until 1690 when the royal family built a country seat on the site.
Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve took charge of the area in 1671. Around 1715 Crown Prince Christian (later Christian VI) took over Gyldenlund. In 1730 he made a present of it to his sister, Princess Charlotte Amalie. She built a palace on the site and called it Charlottenlund. The unmarried princess used the palace as her summer residence until she died in 1782.
For a number of years around 1815 Charlottenlund enjoyed spells as a fashionable destination for Sunday outings from Copenhagen. Throughout the summer season, tents in the Palace Gardens were the venue for music and singing.
In 1869, Crown Prince Frederik (later Frederik VIII) and Princess Louise moved into the palace where they lived until they died in 1912 and 1926, respectively. The obelisk behind the palace was erected in 1938 in memory of the palace's last two royal occupants.
Architecture and vegetation
Changing fashions and vegetation have left their mark on the Palace Gardens over the centuries.
During the 1670s Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve introduced ditches, fish ponds and pathways to the area. By the end of the 16th century the Palace Gardens had such a great variety of species that the royal botanicus Peder Kylling in 1684 published a catalogue containing 404 plants all to be found in the gardens.
In the 18th century, while Princess Charlotte Amalie lived in the palace, several small rectangular Baroque gardens were spread across the area covered by the present day Charlottenlund Palace Gardens. In those days, Charlotte Amalie's palace was encircled by a small garden in the baroque style with rectangular parterre beds meticulously embellished with boxwood decorations and yew trees trimmed to resemble pyramids. The long elegant avenue that now leads from Strandvejen to Charlottenlund Palace is a living testimony to the geometric horticulture of Charlotte Amalie's era.
In the 1990s, when the Palaces and Properties Agency renovated the area around the palace, a boxwood bed, pyramid-shaped thuja trees and parallel rows of yew trees were added, drawing inspiration from the site’s Baroque past.
Royal kitchen garden
Christian VIII's sister, Princess Louise Charlotte and her husband, Count Vilhelm of Hessen, took over Charlottenlund in 1826. Louise Charlotte planted a kitchen garden with herbs, vegetables and fruits on the site of what is now the Perennial Garden. In 1909, after the closure of the greenhouses in Rosenborg Palace Gardens, Charlottenlund provided some of the produce for the royal household.
In 1880-81 Charlottenlund Palace Gardens were transformed from a baroque garden into a romantic landscape garden inspired by nature, and part of Charlottenlund Forest was added to the site. Wings at the sides and the characteristic globe were added to the palace at the same time. Garden managers R. Rothe and H.A. Flindt designed the new layout, which endowed the gardens with their current appearance. During the reign of Frederik VIII, new plants and impeccable lawns were regularly added to the gardens.
Since the 1930s, the palace has served as the headquarters of the Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, now the National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua). Denmark's Aquarium is located in the eastern end of the Palace Gardens.
Last updated:: Wednesday, September 08, 2010
