This royal residence has been in the same location by Norrström in the northern part of Gamla stan in Stockholm since the middle of the 13th century when Tre Kronor Castle was built.

The palace is surrounded by the Lejonbacken and the Norrbro to the north, the Logården (known as the Shot Yard in English)[3] and Skeppsbron in the east, the Slottsbacken and the Storkyrkan in the south, and the outer courtyard and Högvaktsterrassen in the northwest.

More features are the Hall of State, the Royal Chapel, the Treasury with the Regalia of Sweden, Livrustkammaren and the Tre Kronor Museum in the remaining cellar vaults from the former castle.

Contemporaneous copperplates from 1654 shows de la Vallée's idea of a more visible castle on a raised plateau with a connecting bridge over the Norrström.

[9] A model for the austere Roman baroque style, including a relatively strict regularity and symmetry, was the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, where the architect in charge of the conversion, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, went to study buildings in 1688.

The fire ruined most of the earlier fortress, the Tre Kronor Castle, except for the sturdy, recently constructed walls of the northern row, most of which are still standing.

Tessin was convinced that his plans would one day be realized, but building the new palace kept him fully occupied and demanded great financial resources.

[29] Other noted sculptors and craftsmen during the second phase of the construction were Charles Guillaume Cousin, Jacques-Philippe Bouchardon, Pierre Hubert L'Archevêque, Johan Tobias Sergel and Adrien Masreliez.

[31] Lejonbacken and the Chancery Wing were finished by architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz,[32] who also was put in charge for the work on the interior after Hårleman's death.

[34] After the completion of the new palace, no major conversions has been made to the complex save for a number of adaptions, new interiors, modernizations and redecorations for different regents and their families.

[34] Artists like Jean Eric Rehn and Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander were important to the palace's grand interior during the end of the 18th and 19th century, when pilasters, columns, wall decorations, etc.

[35] Among those sculptors, painters and craftsmen who also contributed during the later renovations were Louis Masreliez (interior work in Classicism and Neoclassicism), Jean Baptiste Masreliez (interior work), Axel Magnus Fahlcrantz (the Logården Wall and the wrought iron fence at Logården), Johan Niclas Byström (sculptures), Sven Scholander (restorations), Johan Axel Wetterlund (façade sculptures of noted men and four allegorical groups on the Logården Wall), Julius Kronberg (ceiling paintings) and Kaspar Schröder (façade sculptures; lion masks at the courtyard façade).

[38] (see Coloration below) During the reign of King Oscar I, there was a renewed interest for older styles and when the Vita Havet (the White Sea Ballroom) was created from the designs of Per Axel Nyström in 1844–1850, a compromise between old and new was made.

Author Georg Svensson, wrote about King Oscar II that "his goal was to complete the construction of the palace as intended in Tessin's plans in a manner worthy of this monument".

[40] During 1922 to 1930, the Logården was rebuilt from the former English park to a more open area with pools of water on either side of the walkway leading from the East Arch to the Skeppsbron.

A triumphal arch in splendid Baroque style framed the entrance and the stairwell in the middle of the southern façade, and niches for statues were placed at every second window ledge.

[52] The balcony above the courtyard, completed in 2023 using Tessins original plans, is usually where the Royal Family appears for the Kings Birthday [53] In the frontispiece of the western façade between the windows there are ten female characters called caryatids.

The caryatids of the palace are Rococo inspired pilasters in the shape of women, made by the French artist Charles Guillaume Cousin of Gotlandic sandstone in 1744.

[38] Before the royal family moved in at the palace in 1754, the whole façade, except for the base which was painted in a yellow ochre color to imitate French sandstone.

[64] According to Johan Celsing, the lighting is supposed to enhance the distribution and nuances of the palace and bring out decorative details not previously visible during the evenings.

In 2008, the National Property Board of Sweden, which is responsible for the maintenance of the palace, found that the sandstone had partially disintegrated and the weathering was only getting worse.

In the spring of 2008, the Property Board started a comprehensive study on order to make a long-term plan for maintenance of the palace during the next 50 years.

[67] To accomplish this, the Swedish National Heritage Board is planning to open up a sandstone quarry on Gotland and start a masonry school.

The rooms got their original interior in the 1760s, under the direction of Jean Eric Rehn when they were set in order for the Prince Frederick Adolf, the brother of King Gustaf III.

The apartment is known for the Blue Drawing room where the engagements of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath in 1976, as well as Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling in 2009, were declared.

The Princess Sibylla's Inner Drawing room, formerly known as Crown Prince Gustaf's audience chamber, still have some interior designed by Carl Hårleman, such as pilasters and ornamentations over the lintels of the doors.

When King Adolf Frederick and Queen Lovisa Ulrica moved in there in 1754, the rooms were furnished with pieces of furniture made by the best craftsmen in Stockholm at that time.

[87] After fire in 1697, when Tessin planned the new palace, the Royal Chapel and the Hall of State were placed in the southern row and these, including the grand stairs, occupies the first and second floor.

[46] The wing was finished by architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz,[32] and was originally used as the royal gardhouse, offices for domestic, foreign and war departments as well as the National Archives of Sweden.

As the government administration grew, it moved from the palace and formed new independent departments,[46] and around 1780, the Chancery Wing was transformed into an apartment for the three-year-old Crown Prince Gustav (IV) Adolf and later for his mother the Queen Dowager Sophia Magdalena.