The Flemish sculptor Nicolaes Millich made for the great staircase and hall sculptures of the nine muses in marble, along with a series of busts of Gothic kings.

Millich and his assistant Burchard Precht also made decorative wood carvings in the Queen Dowager's bed chamber.

[3] During the period of the reconstruction, Hedwig Eleonora was head of the regency for the still-underage king, Charles XI of Sweden, from 1660 to 1672.

The position of the Queen, essentially the ruler of Sweden, demanded an impressive residence located conveniently close to Stockholm.

[4] Hedwig Eleonora used the palace as a summer residence until her death in 1715, also when she had become the undisputed host of the royal court during the absence of Charles XII in the Great Northern War (1700–1721).

Louisa Ulrika was also responsible for having the Drottningholm Palace Theatre rebuilt in a grand style after the more modest original building burnt down in 1762.

In 1797, it was the place of the great festivities when the King's bride, Frederica of Baden, was received there upon her arrival in Sweden, during which the last so called carousel, or tournament, was staged in the palace garden.

[4] After the Coup of 1809, the deposed Gustav IV Adolf was kept here under guard in the Chinese Drawing Room for eleven days.

[4] Occasionally, the grounds were used for public events: in 1823, the bride of the crown prince, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, was received upon her arrival to Sweden, and her name day continued to be celebrated here.

For the Queens 50th Birthday in 1993 she was gifted a swimming pavilion worth 9 million SEK by the Wallenberg family that was attached to the south wings courtyard.

The largest renovation, in which electricity, heating, sewage, water lines were either installed or updated and the castle roof replaced, took place between 1907 and 1913.

The gardens and park areas surrounding the castle and its buildings are one of the main attractions for the tourists that visit the palace each year.

The father and son Tessin led the project that created a Baroque garden right outside the main palace,[6] flanked by thick tree avenues.

[7] The Baroque garden was neglected along with the rest of the grounds during the 19th century, but was restored in the 1950s and 1960s on the initiative of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.

This lies north of the Baroque garden and consists of two ponds with canals, bridges, large open lawns, and trees in groups or avenues.