The Summer Palace stands on the northwestern coast of Tortall, near the port city of Blue Harbor. It is close to the Three Rivers Province, and thus the city of Arenaver, the center hub of Tortallan trade. The palace is used as a vacation home for the royal family of Tortall during the summer months, when the nobility return to their fiefs till the next season. In 249 HE, the Summer Palace was the site where the conspiracy staged the kidnapping of Prince Gareth, the only child and heir to King Roger II.