Mary inaugurates Odense Flower Festival

Crown Princess Mary has opened the inaugural Odense Flower Festival today. It is being held for four days in the centre of the city and outside the Odense Town Hall. If you are wondering about various people dressed in costumes in the photos, it is because Odense is the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and some of the locals are dressed as characters for the celebrations.



Photos from the Fyens Stiftstidende photo gallery. There are many, many more here at the gallery at the newspaper's site.


Fyens Stiftstidende (Danish article) tells of Mary's arrival, the opening of the festival by the mayor of Odense, Jan Boye, and Mary christening a newly developed plant, a new variety of perennial bell flower named Kronprinsessens Klokkeblomst (Campanula rotundifolia) by the plant breeder Christian Madsen. The Odense Symphony Orchestra movingly played Bach and Mary toured the exhibit.
TV 2 video clip (1 minute plus - Mary's arrival)
TV 2 video clip (1 minute with Mary christening Kronprinsessens Klokkeblomst)
TV 2 FYN video clip (just under 1 minute of Mary christening the bell flower)
Odense Blomster Festival (in Danish) and photo gallery (click on thumbnails if you are into matters horticultural).
The Italian Culture Institute Copenhagen will be participating in the flower festival with the Dante Alighieri Society of Odense. An Italian film festival will run concurrently with the flower festival also.
Earlier Fyens Stiftstidende reported the plant christened in Mary's honour had been 20 years in development. Horticulturalist Kristian Madsens says the breeding of the plant began 20 years ago and the nursery's 'dream team' has brought a beautiful new flower into being. Last year Mary christened a rose named for her, and that rose now features in a recently award-winning garden in a park in Valby, Copenhagen and in other public gardens it has won awards too.
Mary is recycling her hat and her clothes. Mary wore the hat around this time last year, including to the christening of the award-winning Kronprinsesse Mary (Poulsen) Rose and to a garden fair where she had an encounter with a puppy. The clothes Mary is wearing today are also recycled from various other events and private occasions.