Friendly ghosts haunt Swedish royal palace, queen says

STOCKHOLM — One of the Swedish royal family’s palaces is haunted — but the phantoms are “pretty friendly,” says Queen Silvia.

“There are ghosts, many,” Silvia says of the Drottningholm Palace in a documentary to be aired Thursday on public television channel SVT. “You feel you get a little excited” when talking about them, she adds, smilingly.

Asked whether Sweden’s longest-serving queen had experienced the ghosts herself, she replied “of course. But they are friendly.”

Located on an island in Stockholm’s archipelago, the royals’ private residence was originally built in the late 16th century. Drottningholm Palace is listed on the UNESCO world heritage list, and has been the royal family’s residence since 1981.