Charles John chose the site for the permanent royal palace on the western side of Christiania in 1821 and commissioned the officer and inexperienced architect, Danish-born Hans Linstow, to design the building.

Work on the site started in 1824, and on 1 October 1825 Charles John laid down the foundation stone beneath the altar of the future palace chapel.

The next Bernadotte kings Charles IV and Oscar II continued to use the royal palace in Christiania, but spent most of their time in Stockholm.

King Oscar's wife, Sophia of Nassau, preferred to spend summers in Norway, but mostly stayed at the country manor Skinnarbøl near the Swedish border for the sake of her health.

The Bernadotte dynasty abdicated their Norwegian throne in 1905 and were succeeded by Prince Carl of Denmark, who took the name of Haakon VII when he accepted his election as king of a completely independent Norway.

King Haakon would be the first monarch to greet the children's parade on the palace balcony during the Norwegian Constitution Day celebration in Oslo.

The renovations and improvements, all made by Statsbygg, included new fire alarm systems, the construction of new bathrooms, kitchens, offices and a general restructuring of the palace.

The King was criticized because of the amount of money needed to bring the palace up to a satisfactory state even if much of this went to rectify construction deficits from a century and a half ago.