Prince Joachim and his family will move back to Schackenborg Castle according to the Danish Royal Court’s Communication Department, who spoke to the Danish magazine “Her&Nå”. They are, therefore, moving from their temporary residence at Amalienborg Palace in the capital of Copenhagen to southern Jutland. The family has lived in Copenhagen since they returned from France because of the coronavirus.
Until recently, the family was residing in France because Prince Joachim was to undertake a military education course in the country, but due to coronavirus, the family returned to Denmark. It is not certain how long the family will live in the castle or whether they will return to France when the pandemic is over.
Prince Joachim owned the castle from 1978 to 2014. Prince Joachim sold Schackenborg Castle and a number of associated properties in 2014 but still owns the old residence in the castle and refers to Schackenborg as the family’s second home.
In November 2019, Princess Marie opened an exhibition at Schackenborg Castle. Then, Her Royal Highness said: “This is where Prince Joachim and I got married. This is where our lovely children were born. And, therefore, it is the place where I feel at home.”
This will be the third time that the family has lived in the castle. After living at the property for many years, the family moved to Copenhagen and then moved back to the castle for their second stay there in 2016.
In the past, Prince Joachim has revealed that he fears meeting the castle’s ghosts. His Royal Highness explained that he is quite sure that it is the Evil Countess who haunts the castle. He said he had never seen the ghost, but he feared coming face to face the Evil Countess. The Evil Countess, also called “The White Lady”, is said to be the wife of the Schackenborg Castle’s third owner.
Legend has it that she tied her lazy housemaid to a chair in front of the stove and went to the church one day. When the Countess returned, it was only a skeleton that remained of the housemaid. When the Countess loosened the rope, the skeleton ran up the stairs of the castle, while it screamed.
