He was particularly impressed by the architecture in Italy and, on his return to Denmark, asked his father, Christian V, for permission to build a summer palace on Solbjerg as the hill in Valby was then known.

The first major extension, when it was converted into a three-storey H-shaped building, was completed in 1709 by Johan Conrad Ernst, giving the palace an Italian Baroque appearance.

In 1716, he received the Russian czar Peter the Great at Frederiksberg Palace and in 1721, shortly after the death of his first wife, Queen Louise, he married his mistress Anne Sophie Reventlow there.

[1] After Frederick VI's dowager wife Queen Marie died at the palace in March 1852, the building lay empty and fell into disrepair.

They contain imposing stucco work, ceiling paintings, an elegant marble bathroom with a secret access staircase, and the Princesses' pancake kitchen.

[8] From 1795 to 1804, it was redesigned by Peter Pedersen as an English landscape garden with the winding paths, lakes, islands and canals which can be seen today.