The farm is amongst the 200 biggest in Norway, measured by production and agricultural support. They produce grain, feeds, milk and meat.

With the current manager up for retirement, the advertisement searching for the replacement is looking for someone who can focus on making the farm ecological, keeping in line with Haakon and Mette-Marit’s focus on the environment.

The book deals with the history of the château, the process of acquiring it, the area, the wine and the local kitchen. A chapter on the Monpezat family’s stay in the East, and subsequent return and stay in France during WWII, is also included, although, why, exactly that is, I have trouble understanding. It doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the book.

The book is rather disjointed at times, a mixture of Prince Henrik and the author, and apart from the general topic staying roughly the same; it would have been nice to perhaps have the chapters in a more logical order.

The Queen and Prince Henrik first saw the Château as it was for sale in 1974. They were looking for a place of their own to stay, when they were in France for the summers, visiting Prince Henrik’s family. The story behind the purchase, and the story behind the château are interesting, and mostly told in Prince Henrik’s words.

The chapter discussing the renovations that were needed to bring the Château back to standard, was in my opinion, the most interesting one. The story of why they have a living room with a high ceiling (the third floor collapsed) was particularly amusing.

I’m also fond of France, and so seeing the nice pictures from the area, was also contributing to my enjoyment of the book. Perhaps, another royal connection to note, one of the main photographers contributing in the book was young Martin Jørgensen.

The three chapters on the wine they produce at the Château, well, it did feel just a tad like a public relations stunt, if I’m being completely honest.

It’s a decent book, but unless you’re particularly interested in French wine, or the Danish royal family… you can settle for reading about the château here.

The book covers today’s residences, and the residences of the past. And where some of them might be covered on the royal house’s webpages, such as the official winter residence, Amalienborg, information on some of the others might be more scarce.

There is Frydenlund castle, today in private hands, but once the hideaway of bigamous Frederik IV and his second wife Anna Sophie Reventlow. The property had originally housed a hunting lodge of Christian V, but that had been taken over of by the Reventlow family, until Frederik IV kidnapped Anna Sophie. Suddenly, Frydenlund reverted to the crown, and Frederik tore down the hunting lodge and built a pleasure palace. It was sold in 1793. According to the book, it is today owned by Haldor Topsøe.

Another interesting castle description is Valdemar Atterdag’s Gurre Castle. It was first mentioned in literary sources in 1361, but was much much older. Gurre was central to the affairs of the realm, but began losing its influence in the 1400s, and is today just ruins, albeit fascinating such.

When I was very young, we visited the Danish town of Gram. I remember the lovely gardens there – it is where I was equipped with my first camera and told to not just take pictures of the flowers – but I didn’t remember anything about a royal palace. Surprise – the gardens were, according to this book, the palace gardens – and there was an actual former palace there… owned by the Valdemar kings. Not to mention, Hans Schack – an owner, and the man who gave the manor its name, of Schackenborg, also briefly owned Gram Castle. All the things you miss when you have a camera to occupy you.

The book covers about 75 royal residences, both former and current, all over Denmark. Unfortunately, it is in Danish, because it is a deeply informative and fascinating work on the royal Danish residences. And, if you’re interested in the Danish royals, and read Danish, probably a must have.