In a new documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT, Queen Silvia of Sweden has said Drottningholm Palace - the royal palace where she resides - is haunted. The "ghosts" are all "very friendly," she said.
Built on Stockholm's Lovon Island in the 17th century, Drottningholm Palace remains the private residence of the Swedish royal family, as well as a popular tourist attraction.
But according to Queen Silvia, the Swedish royal family aren't the only ones residing in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Queen Silvia of Sweden is the co-founder of the World Childhood FoundationImage: Getty Images/M. Campanella
In a new documentary, due to be aired on public television on Thursday, Silvia said there are "small friends ... ghosts" living in the palace.
"They're all very friendly but you sometimes feel that you're not completely alone," she said, adding that "it's really exciting."
"But you don't get scared," the queen insisted.
Silvia married King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976 - making her Sweden's longest-serving queen. Born in Heidelberg, southwest Germany, the 73-year-old was the only daughter of a German father and Brazilian mother.
Ghost stories
Princess Christina, the king's sister, also supports Silvia's claims of the Drottningholm phantoms.
"There is much energy in this house. It would be strange if it didn't take the form of guises," Christina was quoted as saying in the documentary.
"There are stories about ghosts in all old houses. They have been filled with people over the centuries," she added. "The energies remain."
Royal visit: Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden in Germany
The Swedish royal couple is on a state visit in Germany. Queen Silvia of Sweden comes regularly on her own to visit her family in Heidelberg. Now she has the King at her side.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-T. Dahlskog
The little prince
Crown Prince Carl Gustaf smiles at the camera shortly before his seventh birthday. His birth on April 30, 1946, was announced with a salute of 84 naval guns, leading his mother, the then Crown Princess Sibylla, to fall unconscious. His father died in a plane accident nine months later. The boy became Crown Prince at the age of four, after his great-grandfather died. He was crowned King in 1973.
Image: Imago/Zuma/Keystone
Queen with an Olympian past
The Queen was born as Sylvia Sommerlath on December 23, 1943, in Heidelberg. Her father was a member of the Nazi party and fled to Brazil after World War II. Silvia stayed in Germany and finished high school in Dusseldorf. Here, she shows tickets to the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. She was a hostess and interpreter for the event, and that's where she met Carl XVI Gustaf.
Image: Imago stock&people
Marrying into royalty
Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath married in the summer of 1976. The people of Sweden were thrilled and didn't mind Silvia's lack of royal roots. Silvia was already the third commoner to become Queen of Sweden. Along with her many ceremonial duties, she is involved in charities for disadvantaged children.
Image: picture-alliance/Scanpix Denmark
First state visit to Germany
In 1973, Carl XVI Gustaf was crowned King of Sweden. Six years later, in March 1979, King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife came for a state visit to West Germany for the first time. Along with the former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the majesties also met Bavarian Prime Minister Franz-Josef Strauss (pictured right).
Image: imago/ZUMA/Keystone
Equality in royal succession
A new law was established in 1980 to allow their first-born daughter to become Queen one day, placing Crown Princess Victoria ahead of her younger brother in the succession. She married her personal athletic trainer, Daniel Westling, who's holding their baby daughter, Princess Estelle, in this picture from 2012. They now have two children.
Image: picture alliance/IBL Schweden/K. Tornblom
A storybook family
Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf had three children: Victoria, Madeleine and Carl Philip, pictured here in 1995 on Victoria's 18th birthday. The royal family is extremely popular in Sweden, contributing to the Swedes' acceptance of monarchy in the country.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-T. Dahlskog
Greetings from a Berlin balcony
If their first state visit took place during the Cold War in a divided Germany, the Swedish royal couple set foot in a completely different Germany on their second official visit in 1993. On April 28, they waved from the balcony of Berlin's town hall, the Rotes Rathaus.
Image: picture-alliance/P. Grimm
Support for Angela Merkel
Sweden and Germany have shouldered a large part of Europe's burden in the refugee crisis. Shortly before this third state visit, Queen Silvia declared her support for Angela Merkel's refugee policies. She recalled the long tradition of immigration established in her country.
