About us
Valdemars Slot reopens to the public as a unique destination for contemporary art at 1pm, Saturday 24 May 2025. Its inaugural season will introduce the Estate as a public venue for the arts, whilst celebrating its architecture, grounds, and history.
Our story
Originally built (1639–44) by King Christian IV (1588–1648), Valdemars Slot is the largest private home in Denmark, and the only royal palace in private hands. Its owner, Louise Iuel-Brockdorff Albinus – known as Duddi – and her sister Caroline inherited VS in 2017. After a family dispute forced its sale on the open market, Louise bought back the Estate in 2022 and has since passionately pursued the restoration of her childhood home.
Valdemars Slot came into the family through Louise’s tenth great grandfather and naval hero Niels Juel (1629–97). Known to every Danish schoolchild, Juel is celebrated for one of the greatest victories in Danish history, the Battle of Køge Bay (1677), which won the Danish-Norwegian alliance control of the Baltic Sea. In recognition of his valour, the King gave Juel a knighthood and the gift of Valdemars Slot.
Like many European stately homes, the Estate once welcomed visitors as a museum, filled with historical treasures acquired by the family over generations. Louise has restored to Valdemars Slot the most cherished of these objects, which are displayed across several rooms of the palace.
Once embedded within ornate interiors, historical paintings are given fresh life in newly renovated exhibition spaces. A presentation of significant paintings by Carl Gustaf Pilo (SE, 1711–93) and Jens Juel (DK, 1745–1802) made specially for the palace will take place alongside site-specific installations by international contemporary artists including Jiří Georg Dokoupil (CZ), Hanne Lippard (GB), and Pernille With Madsen (DK).
“My family and I are just caretakers here, but VS is everyone's cultural heritage. I am excited to welcome people inside again and to see contemporary artists bring new life to the estate.”
Louise Iuel-Brockdorff Albinus
Nature
Valdemars Slot is situated on Tåsinge in Svendborg. With its historical buildings, idyllic forests, beaches, and diverse wildlife, the island has attracted tourists for centuries.
VS offers public access to the sea through the grounds and visitors can arrive by boat, alighting from the M/S Helge on its journey from Svendborg. The enclosed coastal lagoon and meadows on Tåsinge serve as resting and breeding grounds for a huge variety of water birds. Lapwings, redshanks and snipes breed in the area from April onwards, and during the winter there are swans, geese, and heron. In the meadows you might spot a white-tailed eagle, rough-legged buzzard, peregrine falcon or short-eared owl.
The area’s plants and trees also have a storied past. South Funen and Tåsinge have been known as a centre for fruit production for hundreds of years. Varieties of apples grown in the area have been traced back to eighteenth-century archival records, listing the trees grown at Valdemars Slot.
The origin of these fruit trees begins with Niels Juel the Younger (1696–1766) – grandson of the naval hero – who inherited Valdemars Slot in 1714. The chamberlain distributed apple trees to tenant farmers working on the estate, and at the same time reorganised the land around Troense to provide homes with gardens in which they could grow.
An ardent supporter of the arts, Juel gathered around him a circle of singers, musicians and actors – including Danish poet Ambrosius Stub (1705–58), who stayed at the palace as tutor to the family. “Ambrosius used to write poems at the base of an oak tree just a few steps from VS”, Louise explains. “Now the tree, named after him, is one of the oldest and the biggest in Denmark.”
Timeline
1600–1750
VS is built (1639–44) in the Renaissance style by King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (1588–1648) for his son Valdemar Christian (1622–56), who dies serving in the Swedish wars, without ever living at VS.
Further wars against Sweden (1657–60) result in significant damage to the palace. With creditors circling the estate, it seems likely that Valdemars Slot will be demolished.
VS is rescued by Admiral Niels Juel (1629–97), who wins the estate as payment from the King for his victory in the famous Battle of Køge Bay (1677). Twenty Swedish ships are taken, without any Danish lost.
Knud Juel (1665–1709) takes over the estate upon his father’s death and finally realises the admiral’s wish to unite ownership of all Tåsinge under VS.
1750–1900
The Admiral’s grandson Niels Juel (1696–1766) continues his father’s efforts to strengthen VS, introducing fruit growing for the tenant farmers and building a weaving mill on the estate. In 1754, he gives the palace its current appearance, in the popular rococo style.
Prosperity continues under Niels’ nephew Frederik Juel (1761–1827), who passes productive agricultural reforms and establishes poorhouses in Tåsinge to support those in need living on the estate.
Carl Juel (1780–1859) inherits the estate and, c. 1812, establishes the barony Juel-Brockdorff, based on his wife’s property, Scheelenborg. VS is uninhabited and becomes gradually neglected by its trustees.
During the Schleswig Wars (1848–52, 1864), VS is used as a hospital for wounded soldiers, who are treated in the disused chapel.
1900–present
By 1900 the estate’s finances are in poor condition and VS is placed under administration. Money to save the deteriorating palace is raised by selling farmsteads to the farmers for freehold.
In 2003 VS is inherited by Caroline Fleming. In 2011, she sells the estate back to her father, Niels Krabbe Iuel-Brockdorff (1938–2017).
In 2017, Louise Iuel-Brockdorff Albinus and Caroline Fleming inherit VS on their father’s death. After a family dispute forces its sale on the open market, Louise buys back the Estate in 2022.
With most of the palace’s furnishings lost in the sale, VS is empty for the first time. Louise sees the bare walls as a blank slate, inviting contemporary artists to fill the palace with new creativity.
Support us
Valdemars Slot is a private home, relying on fundraising and private donations to keep its doors open to the public. Every contribution, large or small, is essential to our work.
There are many ways to give to VS. Whether you would like to make a personal donation or gift in your Will, donate an artwork, volunteer, or provide products and services, you are contributing to the life of VS and its future. Contact us at donations@valdemarsslot.dk or donate directly, using the link below.
