You all hopefully know by now that I am really into “royal families.” I just think the whole idea of it is really fun especially because my family is part Scottish royalty (but like way way back). Being here in Denmark means I have access to many beautiful castles which are nothing like the “fake”ones in the United States (sorry DisneyWorld, it’s just not the same). So far I have been to three; Fredericksborg Castle, Rosenborg Castle, and Kromborg Castle. Two I visited with my class on the Danish monarchy and the third I went to with my host family as a day trip. I know I have many more to explore, but here is a little bit about my adventures in trying to be as royal as possible.

Frediericksborg Castle

This castle was built by Christian the Fourth (C IV)i n the early 1600’s. It is magnificent and quite the castle if I do say so myself. It takes about an hour to get here from the center of Copenhagen, but we loaded my whole class on to the S-tog and went for it. We sadly did not have a ton of time to explore all of the rooms, but we did see many. This castle is much more of a political statement to the country instead of a practical castle used for defense which means C IV spared no expenses in making it as lavish as possible. On the outside a huge fountain inspired by the Greeks and Romans welcomes visitors and establishes that this castle is not to be taken lightly. We then moved into the chapel which is the only original part of the castle left because it had a horrible fire in which everything but the chapel burned. All along the walls were the coats of arms off all the people who have been given the “Order of the Elephant” (think the equivalent of Knighting someone in England). After the chapel we explored a few more rooms and got a spectacular view of the gardens. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit a little short because we all had to return to DIS, but I really hope to go back. There is so much more to see and more history to learn about. C IV was incredibly influential in commemorating his legacy through architecture and you will often see a C with a 4 in it which indicates his presence throughout the city and country.

Rosenborg Castle

This castle is located in the heart of Copenhangen and I actually pass it on my way to class everyday! Okay, this is where the ~ coolness ~ factor really increases. My teacher for my class has the ACTUAL KEY to Rosenborg and the Crown Jewels. This meant that my class got a private tour of the castle and the collection. It was amazing to have the castle all to ourselves. We went and saw the King’s and Queen’s Thrones which are guarded by three lions. Interestingly enough, the Lions are anatomically correct because they were cast based on the Lions that were kept in the Zoo. They now reside in the ballroom, but will be laid around the sovereigns casket when he/she dies. Next, came the best part, the incredible jewelry. There were crowns, broaches, earrings, necklaces, orbs, swords, you name it they had it. Actually my friend went to take a picture of the King’s Crown and I guess her phone just couldn’t handle it because it died and turned on 40 minutes later (that is how I genially felt inside as well). There is nothing more you can do that “ooo” and “ahh” at pieces made from pure gold and the highest quality stones, fabric, and craftsman ship. I was in absolute awe and will remember this vault of treasure for the rest of my life. What is actually really interesting about the crown jewels too is that the Queen still wears some of the pieces if she wants to. All she simply has to do is ask for them! She can’t however wear the crown made for C IV or the other crowns because Denmark does not do coronations anymore ( you bet I asked though!). This ranks as one of my top 10 things in Denmark you have to see and if you leave without touring the castle and collection then you really are missing out on a key part of Danish culture.

Kromborg Castle

We all know the famous like “to be or not to be” which is from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Kromborg in Denmark is where this play is set to take place and has become a major tourist attraction, as well as, it was set up to be a key defensive castle back when Denmark was charging taxes on ships entering into the Baltic Sea. All around the castle there are cannons, a big moat, and many high walls. This is a completely different aesthetic than Fredericksborg which was clearly more for show. My host family and I went and saw “Holger Danske” which is a statue in the basement of Kromborg who will come back to life if the Danes are ever in trouble during war. He was really cool and honestly, I would trust him to watch over the kingdom. We then hiked up all 145 stairs to the top of the lookout tower where we could see all the castle grounds and over to Sweden. You are actually so close to Sweden there that I got messages from my phone company asking me about international rates. The castle certainly has a different vibe than the rest of the ones I have seen, but it has been fun to look at all three close together in order to understand how architecture serves a purpose and changes over time.

I just kept thinking about what it would be like to wake up one day and be able to say “I live here” (in a castle). For now I’m stuck in small 600 sq ft apartments as a college student, but maybe one day!