The ghosts of the Royal Palace

The light is starting to fade and the palace's north front is darkening. Few buildings in Stockholm have gathered as many ghost stories as this one, and almost all of them revolve around two figures.

1The little grey man

The oldest is Grå gubben, 'the grey old man'. According to tradition, he lives among the remains of the Tre Kronor castle that were left beneath the present palace after the fire of 1697. He is described as a small man in a hooded cloak, a kind of guardian sprite of the castle, like the tomtar who, in Swedish folklore, watch over every farm. Some say he is the spirit of Birger Jarl, the legendary founder of the city. The story goes that he appeared to the architect Nicodemus Tessin to warn him that he would never see his palace finished. And so it was: Tessin died in 1728, decades before the royal family moved in.

2The white lady

The most famous is Vita frun, the 'white lady': tall, in a white silk dress that, they say, you only hear rustling as she approaches. Her visit is said to herald the death of a member of the royal family. Popular accounts claim that Princess Eugénie saw her in March 1871 and Queen Lovisa died a few days later; that she returned in 1907, shortly before the death of Oscar II; and that in 1920 a sentry saw her on the roof while Crown Princess Margaret lay dying.

White ladies haunt many castles in Europe, from Berlin to Bohemia, and some believe Stockholm's is the same one said to roam the palaces of the Hohenzollerns.

3What to look for

• The bronze lions that give the ramp its name.
• The windows of the north wing, the grey man's territory.
• The roofline, where the sentry saw the lady.