The Swedish Haga Palace is the new official residence for HRH The Crown Princess Victoria and her new husband, Prince Daniel. They will move in upon their return from their Tahitian honeymoon.

King Gustav IV Adolf had envisioned a home in Haga just outside Enskede, so he commissioned architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell to build a modern palace in the style of an Italian villa. The result looked less like a palace and more like a large, sunny country home. It has been used alternately as a private home and a summer house for several members of the Swedish royal family over the years.

Haga is the birthplace of Princess Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf. The King – Prince Carl Gustaf at the time – and his four sisters spent their childhood at this palace with their parents, Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sybilla.

Young Carl Gustaf played happily on the grounds with Princesses Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée, and Christina and they were photographed enjoying their small playhouse in the park. The Swedish media and the public were charmed by the royal children, especially the girls, who became affectionately known as Hagasessornas, “Haga Princesses”.

The death of their father in an airplane crash in 1947 outside Copenhagen, Denmark, devastated the family. Princess Sybilla, who felt as though “the floor fell out from under my feet”, took the children to live in an apartment at The Royal Palace in 1950.

Haga, abandoned as the official home, was left empty for several years. King Gustaf VI Adolf eventually transferred its ownership to the Swedish government for use as a guest house for visiting dignitaries in 1966.

Happily, Haga reverted back to Royal property in 2009. Just after Princess Victoria’s engagement was announced in February 24th of that year, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt declared that the rights of disposal to the palace would be transferred back to the royal court as a wedding gift to Victoria and her new husband, Prince Daniel. Attempting to echo the sentiments of Winston Churchill upon the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947, Reinfeldt said: “[T]he royal engagement [i]s a beacon of light in the dark times of economic crises.”

This happy, warm palace looks extremely welcoming and should be perfect for the beaming royal couple. Congratulations to Victoria and Daniel upon the return of a very precious family home.