Dream House: Haga Slott

A cross-section and photographs of Haga Slott, the new home of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her husband, the former Daniel Westling, now Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. The image above was published in the Swedish magazine Aftonbladet and posted on the blog Trond Norén Isaksen.

The main façade of Haga Slott.

Modesty is deeply attractive quality. Especially when it comes to royalty. And few dynasties seem to be as laidback as the Bernadottes of Sweden. After all, how often does one see a gay couple waltzing at any wedding, let alone a royal one, as happened at the wedding reception last weekend of Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, the former Daniel Westling, now HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland? Friends of the bride and groom, the couple in question was pop singer Peter Jöback and his partner, gym instructor Oscar Nilsson, and the men, each dressed in faultless dinner jackets, danced amid a bevy of glittering crowned heads also tripping the light fantastic.

The Crown Princess's choice of post-nuptial residence is as easygoing as her homey yet elegant wedding turned out to be: Haga Slott, one of the loveliest houses in the possession of the Swedish royal family and much less well known than its near neighbor, Haga Pavilion, built in the eighteenth century and famous for its ravishing painted-metal tents. Though the name of the couple's new home translates to Haga Palace, it is really a charming villa in the Italian style: three stories tall and quietly neoclassical, completed in 1805 to the designs of architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell. Originally meant to house the young children of Gustav IV Adolf and his wife, Frederica of Baden, Haga Slott is rather small in comparison to other buildings bearing "palace" in their names. Made of brick clad in stucco and incorporating marble columns salvaged from a burned-out church, it was given to Crown Princess Victoria as a wedding gift by the Swedish government, who had long used it to house distinguished guests.

Modest in scale, restrained in its details, and friendly in appearance, Haga Slott is a house I'd be quite happy to call my own. Though I would paint the exterior a warm shade of goldenrod and freshen up those rooms with masses of flowered chintz and a few deep-dish armchairs.

The floor plan of Haga Slott, from ground floor (far left) to second floor (far right).

The rear façade of Haga Slott, near Stockholm.