The estate has been owned by the Scheel-Plessen family since 1721 but the recently restored main building and its immediate surroundings have been ceded to a self-owning foundation.

Selsø is first mentioned in 1288 when bishop Ingvar of Roskilde granted it to Jens Grand for life.

In 1756, Christian III ceded the estate to Andreas von Barby, one of his favourites, who had already been granted a number of fiefs.

Hans von Barby had no interest in the Danish estate and sold it when his uncle died two years later.

Jacob Ulfeldt completed a new main building in 1576, using half a million bricks from the abandoned St. Clare's Priory in Roskilde.

An action committed by his wife, Anne Munk, prompted him with the king's permission to imprison her at Selsø and her full freedom was not restored until 1624.

The buyer was Ernst Normand, Christian IV's former servant, who had already acquired the estate Palsgård in Jutland through his marriage to Ingeborg Arenfeldt.

On his widow's death, Pelsgaard was passed down to their daughter while Selsø was sold to Joachim Frederik Pentz.

Om 1821, Selsø was purchased by Christian Ludvig Scheel von Plessen (1702–1752), one of the country's most prosperous landowners.

As her heirs were not interested in the estate, the manor's furniture was auctioned off and the house was left unattended for 144 years.

[6] The restoration work was successfully conducted over the following 25 years, earning them wide recognition including the Europa Nostra award.