The name Drottningholm (meaning "Queen's Island") originated in the 16th century, when King Johan III built the first palace on this site, for Queen Katarina Jagellonika. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire about a hundred years later. In the end of the 17th century a new palace was built, the one we can see today.
For most of the 18th century it served as a summer residence of the Swedish royal court. Drottningholm was a pleasure castle that would offer a change to routine days at the Stockholm Royal Palace. But life out here was still full of rules. King Gustav III's sister-in-law, Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, described it as something in between the city and countryside living, etiquette and freedom, cheerfulness and withdrawnness. The King issued special regulations, a copy of which every guest would find in his or her room. The regulations contained various instructions on how to dress and what to do in beautiful and ugly weather. If the weather was nice, everyone was supposed to spend the day in the Chinese Pavilion (
https://reveal.world/story/1407 ) where the dress code was more relaxed (nonetheless, suits for men). When the weather was bad, everyone had to stay at the castle and the dress code was more formal for both men and women. Interestingly enough, it was King Gustav III himself who decided every day if the weather was good or bad. Every morning, a playing card was set up on the door of his audience chamber. If it was king of hearts, it meant that the weather was beautiful, and that one should dress accordingly and head for the Chinese Pavilion. King of spades meant that the weather was bad and one should stay at the castle. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta complained that the King often changed his mind, sometimes two or three times during one morning which caused “a lot of discomfort".
Bonus fact 1: many leading scientists of the age gathered at Drottningholm. Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) worked here, cataloguing the royal collections' "natural objects".
Bonus fact 2: Drottningholm Palace and its grounds are on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
