The Royal Stables ( sv, Kungliga Hovstallet) is the mews (i.e. combined

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

s and

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

) of the

Swedish Monarchy The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...

which provides both the ceremonial transport for the

Swedish Royal Family The Swedish royal family ( sv, Svenska kungafamiljen) since 1818 has consisted of members of the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal ti ...

during state events and festive occasions and their everyday transportation capacity. The Royal Stables date from 1535, and were originally built on

Helgeandsholmen Helgeandsholmen () is a small island in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located north of Stadsholmen, and east of Strömsborg, with which, together with Riddarholmen, it forms Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm. Helgeandsholmen contains th ...

, close to Stockholm Palace. The Royal Stables are today located just behind Strandvägen in

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous districts in Stockholm. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest housing ...

in central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, Sweden. The head of the Royal Stables is the

Crown Equerry The Crown Equerry is the operational head of the Royal Mews of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. He is responsible for the provision of vehicular transport for the Sovereign, both cars and horse-drawn carriages. Train tr ...

. The Royal Stables are open to the public through guided tours. Around 50 horse-drawn carriages, sleighs and coaches are kept there, together with the cars of the royal family and about 20 horses.

History

Early history

The first royal stables were located on

, close to Stockholm Palace. The first known buildings dedicated to the horses of the King were built in 1535 during the rule of

Gustav Vasa Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksför ...

. Relatively quickly, however, these stables became inadequate and were moved to larger premises not far from Saint James's Church on the site of the present

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern sid ...

house. During the reign of King

Charles XI Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein- ...

, however, the stables moved back to Helgeandsholmen. The new stables were built to the design of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and included an armoury, a riding hall, and a coach house, in addition to stables for the horses. In 1696 the building was destroyed by a fire, and Tessin designed a new building that was built on the same site soon thereafter. These stables had room for 150 horses and were significantly more modern and spacious than their predecessor. The stables would remain in this location for almost two centuries.

Modern history

In the 1870s, plans were made to build a Parliament House and a National Bank on Helgeandsholmen. The owner of the stables, King Oscar II offered to give the land for this purpose if another location could be found for the stables. The Swedish government offered a substantial sum of money and proposed to build the new stables at their current location. Architects of the new buildings, built in a

Medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

style, were Ernst Jacobsson and Fritz Eckert. The present buildings were finished in 1894. They originally contained space for 90 horses and 160 vehicles.

Duties

The main duties of the Royal Stables are to provide the Royal Family with transport. Horse-drawn carriages are used for ceremonial occasions, but the stables also contain cars for the royal family. Apart from these duties, the stables also have the responsibility of displaying its cultural heritage to the public, e.g. through guided tours.

Horses and carriages

The stables contain around 20 horses, all bay in colour. While their physical appearance is important — the horses must also be around tall and "with an attractive

gait Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on speed, terrain, the need to maneuver, and energetic efficiency. ...

" — they also need to have a steady temperament and are trained substantially to be able to cope with working in a busy city environment. They receive two years initial training after they are bought by the stables (at an age of between five and seven years) and are thereafter also trained daily on

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

. The stables contain around 50 different carriages, sleighs and coaches. The State Coach, also called the Glass Coach, dates from 1897 and is the most elaborate of these. It is used at the ceremonial opening of the parliament and on formal state visits by other heads of state during bad weather (in fair weather an open carriage is used). The coaches at the stable range in age from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.

Cars

The stables also contain about 20 cars used by the royal court. Among these are a 1950 Daimler

Limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

DS420 and a

Cadillac Fleetwood The Cadillac Fleetwood is a model of luxury car that was manufactured by the Cadillac division of General Motors between 1976 and 1996. The "Fleetwood" name was previously used as a prefix on several of Cadillac's models dating back to 1935. F ...

from 1969. The other cars are mostly modern and intended for daily use; around 6,000 transport missions are carried out with cars by the Royal Stables every year. The Royal Stables has a pronounced ambition to invest in cars with a low environmental impact.

Gallery

References

External links

* {{coord, 59, 19, 58.3, N, 18, 04, 43.32, E, type:landmark_region:SE, display=title Stables Tourist attractions in Stockholm Swedish monarchy 1535 establishments in Sweden