Danish Royal roundup #10

Crown Princess Mary at a reception at ARKEN during the WHO Conference

It is time to roundup some Danish royal goings on!

6 September 2006 B.T. reported Prince Henrik couldn't participate in all the events of the day on the regent couple's summer tour of Denmark. His knee was giving him trouble so he had to cancel his part in some of the program out and about, but he was at the receptions for locally invited guests on board the Dannebrog. The regent couple are having a bad run with knee troubles!
Also B.T. two days later on Henrik's knee problem. It has also been reported Queen Margrethe will be having some further knee surgery.


6 September 2006 B.T. and other media reported on a terrorist cell found by Danish authorities in Vollsmose just after Mary's visit.
From Chron.com:

Sept. 8, 2006, 4:10AM
Danish immigrants fear effect of raids

By JASMINA NIELSEN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

ODENSE, Denmark — The immigrant neighborhood of Vollsmose is known throughout Denmark for the wrong reasons. To many, unemployment and crime have made it a poster child for failed integration, and residents fear this week's terror raids will set it back further.
The arrest of seven terror suspects in Vollsmose, part of the city of Odense, compounded problems caused by years of gang violence and clashes with police that earned the neighborhood the nickname "Voldsmose" _ "vold" meaning violence in Danish.
"It's not good for us. If they are found guilty, we will all be held responsible," said Hayssan Ahmed, a 34-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin working in a grocery shop.
Denmark's intelligence agency accuses the suspects of being involved in a plot to carry out the country's first terror attack in more than 20 years.
Community leaders here have been working hard to improve the neighborhood's image, with events such as a visit last week by Danish Crown Princess Mary, the Australian-born princess who was greeted by flag-waving children. But many fear the terror arrests will overshadow those efforts.
"A week after Mary's visit, we're afraid that our work now will go in a different direction," said Jamshid Mazaheri, a 43-year-old Dane of Iranian origin working on integration projects in Vollsmose. "We fear very much the case could have serious consequences for the image of Vollsmose and Odense as a whole."
Denmark, like most Western European countries, has been struggling to integrate large groups of immigrants in recent decades.
Some groups, particularly some Muslims, say they don't feel welcome in Denmark, a sentiment underscored when a Danish newspaper published cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad a year ago. While protests in Denmark were peaceful, the firestorm that followed in Muslim countries raised fears that Denmark could become the target of Islamic terrorists.
More than 60 percent of the neighborhood's 10,000 residents are foreign-born. Veiled women push strollers past rows of concrete housing blocks peppered with satellite antennas picking up stations in Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi and Turkish.
Flanked by Odense Mayor Jan Boye and a Somali-born guide, the princess had lunch with a Palestinian family, visited a school where students gave her a cardboard crown and a community house mainly used by immigrant women and their children.
But those images quickly disintegrated early Tuesday, when anti-terror squads raided the neighborhood and arrested nine Muslims accused of preparing an attack, most likely in Denmark. Two were later released.
Some residents were dismayed by the media invasion following the sweep.
"We're not talking to reporters; you think we're all terrorists," said a young man in a cafe.
Some indeed worried that the district had become a breeding ground for homegrown terrorists.
Linda Dreier, 26, an ethnic Dane who lives elsewhere in Odense, said she feared the group was planning to attack Denmark because "we have Danish troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan and this would be some kind of payback."
Since the mid-1990s, the city of Odense has launched several plans to make Vollsmose a better place to live, shining up the housing blocs and enacting programs to fight unemployment and reduce the number of people receiving welfare benefits.
There has been some success. In 2001, 2,065 residents received some kind of social welfare. Last year, the figure dropped to 1,800.
But average annual income in Vollsmose in 2003 was only $20,800, about half of the average of Odense as a whole.
Odense, on the island of Funen, has 185,000 residents and is Denmark's third largest city. It is best known for being the birth town of Hans Christian Andersen, the 19th century writer of fairy tales such as "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Match Girl."
Community activists said the terror sweep had made Vollsmose residents insecure and confused.
"They wonder whether it is dangerous to be in Vollsmose," said Kay Jokil, who heads a local organization working for integration.
Nevertheless, he said the neighborhood would survive.
"It is not the first time something serious happens in Vollsmose," he said. "I hope and I don't think that it is a decisive setback."end Chron.com story
Right, Mahir Amar, 18, speaks outside the courthouse in Odense Denmark, Tuesday September 5, 2006. Amar was among those later released Tuesday after a pre-dawn sweep that authorities said may have thwarted a serious attack in the Scandinavian country. A Danish court arraigned seven men on preliminary terror charges Tuesday. Anti-terror squads arrested nine men at 2 a.m. (0000GMT) in Vollsmose.

Also reported by Foxnews.com
The Copenhagen Post 'Terror plan foiled in Odense'
The Copenhagen Post 'Confidential terror papers found in street'



The Queen and Prince Henrik at Thyborøn as part of the Jylland visit.

7 September 2006 Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik struck a few problems at the end of their summer tour of Denmark. B.T. and also TV 2 reported that Queen Margrethe surprised the folk of Lemvig by arriving by car. The tour the regent couple were making of Denmark on the royal yacht Dannebrog hit a problem when the Dannebrog developed a mechanical problem. Lemvig was the last stop on Queen Margrethe's and Prince Henrik's tour of Jylland (Jutland). These summer tour engagements will mark the end of the royal sailing season for the Dannebrog, which will now go into 'winter hibernation'. In Hvide Sande the regent couple bought some fish at the market. Henrik did a very good deal for them and paid the princely sum of roughly 50 cents!

September 3, 2006. The regent couple in Aalborg:



September 4, 2006. The Dannebrog arrives for visits to Struer, Holstebro, Hvide Sande and Thyborøn-Harboøre.

Struer:


September 5, 2006. Hvide Sande


September 6, 2006. Thyborøn-Harboøre



Scandinavian Airlines has named a new Airbus after Prince Christian in the 60th anniversary year for SAS.
"Christian Valdemar Viking" is the first A319 for Scandinavian Airlines and is painted in a special retro colour scheme for the anniversary. On the tarmac and seen here on its delivery flight from Hamburg:




Queen Margrethe inaugurated a new the boarding school and dance college for ballet students from areas outside Copenhagen on September 15. So students do not have the problems of long travel times to study ballet, the ballet college gives the opportunity for students from 12 to 15 years of age to study intensively. With teacher Michael Christiansen, the Queen greeted the young students and had breakfast with them. The Queen also saw them perform. The school begins with 22 students and anticipates more students as it grows. The Queen is known as a very keen afficionado of ballet (she does it as exercise - or did until her knee problems worsened - and she is involved in design of costumes and scenography for her friend Suzanne Heering every year). Photos are by Tariq Mikkel Khan of POLFOTO



The Royal Danish Ballet
DR1 video clip


Monday 11 September 2006: A catch up on a photo we didn't have at the time of the event. Crown Princess Mary attended a reception for the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe as its patron during the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe's 2006 conference. The reception was at the ARKEN Museum for Modern Art.

21 September: Se og Hor reported Prince Nikolai has begun tennis lessons. He'll be able to get some practice with his grandfather, Prince Henrik, who is a keen and regular player.



September 19 marked the end of the season for The Royal Yacht Dannebrog and Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik attended the ceremonial leaving of the yacht with a salute from the Sextus Fort Battery in Copenhagen Harbour. The Dannebrog goes into dry dock for maintenance until next spring when a new season begins. You can see the anchor and crown broach the Queen is wearing for the occasion in Madeleine Glindorf's great photos. To see more go to Madeleine Glindorf's site and click on photography 'Royal couple leaving Dannebrog...'


September 19, 2006. President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko extends a welcoming hand to Prince Joachim of Denmark prior to their meeting in Kiev. Prince Joachim of Denmark arrived in the Ukranian capital to meet with the country's top officials.


A B.T. article suggests Alexandra would lose a lot of money (her government paid appenage) and other benefits if she married Martin Jørgensen. But it suggests that she has the potential to earn more if she chose to marry and work in the private sector in business. Princess Alexandra would lose her appenage should she re-marry.

September 28, 2006. Princess Alexandra opening the SICEF as a protector in Oesknehallen in Copenhagen.


September 30, 2006. Princess Alexandra arrives to an event against breast cancer in the Opera in Copenhagen.


October 2, 2006. Princess Alexandra attends a show to support the fight against breast cancer. Danish designers showed their work and were later auctioned for financial support.


Princess Benedikte was at a function at Amalienborg Palace for children from Greenland and at a swimming program:



TV2 reported on the fate of a young Danish ambassadorial staff member in Russia at the reburial of Empress Dagmar. There was such a crowd around the grave he was pushed into it and had to be 'rescued' - he will probably never live it down, poor guy!


B.T. reports one of the four Queens of Bhutan, Her Majesty Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck, has toured Denmark for a week-long visit as a PR tour to check out the Danish way of doing things. She has visited many places, including a visit with Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard, a school and on October 1 she had lunch with Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik at Fredensborg Palace. The King of Bhutan has four wives who are sisters. The Queen was friendly and enthusiastic and greeted everybody warmly wherever she went. See many more photos here at the Aulum Church website,where the Queen visited on 27 September, 2006. For info see Bhutan News Online



B.T. reports that the Danish Red Cross has said Crown Prince Frederik's TV ad appealing for volunteers to go door to door for a national collection has been very effective. The article also mentions Prince Joachim's patronage of Grænseforeningen, an organisation which supports Danes and Danish organisations in Schleswig in northern Germany (which used to be a part of Denmark).
Berlingske Tidende and B.T. and The Copenhagen Post report on the good response to the annual Red Cross appeal:
Red Cross volunteers collect millions
02.10.2006
This weekend's Red Cross fundraising campaign manages to best last year's result
The Red Cross fundraising drive on Sunday was a success. Some DKK 23 million were donated to the charity.
‘I’m a very happy man today,’ said Jørgen Poulsen, the Red Cross secretary-general.
The fundraising campaign was backed by Crown Prince Frederik, who has appeared in advertisements appealing to people to donate money to the Red Cross.
Poulsen explained that the assistance of the Crown Prince has been a great benefit for the campaign.
Poulsen further added that send-in payment forms have been left in letterboxes where people were not at home.
‘We have the possibility to achieve a record high fundraising success if people use these payment forms, and the weather has been good so we know that the forms are useful,’ explained Poulsen.
All the money raised will go to the Red Cross disaster foundation. While a major portion of last year's funds went to earthquake victims in Pakistan, this year's collection will most likely be earmarked for relief efforts in Sudan's Dafur province, said Helge Kvam, press officer for the Red Cross in Denmark.



Kim Agersten POLFOTO
Imperial Chinese treasures revealed for first time in Scandinavia
COPENHAGEN Wednesday October 4 (AFP) - Denmark's Queen Margrethe II formally opened Scandinavia's first exhibition featuring imperial Chinese treasures from Beijing's Forbidden City.
The exhibition includes some 300 artifacts from the time of the emperors, on loan from Chinese authorities, and a further 100 articles from the Danish royal household, never seen before in public...
Commenting on the unique nature of the exhibition, chamberlain to the Danish court, Ove Ullerup, said "the combination of objects from the Forbidden City, dating from between the 17th and 19th centuries, and the pieces from the Danish royal household from the same period, tell the story of the Qing dynasty and its influence in the world."
"It's a story of communication, of science exchange and trade between different continents and cultures, a story of fruitful cooperation."
The exhibition opens its doors to the public on Thursday and is set to run until December 10.

As a little aside, Prince Henrik speaks and reads Mandarin so the interest is not 'just for show'!



Birthday fever for Prince Christian's first is on the rise!

From The Sydney Morning Herald:
Aussies flood Danish Prince with gifts

October 6, 2006 - 12:34PM

The Danish Consulate in Sydney has been flooded with gifts as Crown Princess Mary prepares to celebrate her son's first birthday.
Prince Christian was born on October 15 last year, 17 months after Crown Prince Frederik wed his Tasmanian bride.
Danish consul-general, Jorgen Mollegaard, said the consulate had received "quite a few" gifts from Australians, which would be forwarded to the palace.
"I don't encourage people to send them, but some of them do it anyway," he said.
The winner of last year's consulate competition to design a dress for baby Christian had sent another design for his birthday, he said.
Prince Christian received some inspiring gifts to celebrate his birth, including a breeding pair of Tasmanian devils from Mary's home state and an historic W-Class tram from the Victorian government.
Mr Mollegaard was not aware of official functions for the prince's birthday in Denmark but said it was certain to be a special occasion.
"It's a day for a lot of celebration in Denmark for sure," he said.
The royal couple are rumoured to be returning to Australia in December for Prince Christian's first visit to his mother's homeland.
Mr Mollegaard would not comment on the rumour but said there could be some news "very soon".
The visit is expected to coincide with the tour of the Danish research ship, Galathea 3, which docks in Hobart on December 7 and in Sydney on December 10.
The ship belongs to the Danish Expedition Foundation, for which Prince Frederick is royal patron.
© 2006 AAP


It is now confirmed by palace spokeswoman Lis M. Frederiksen that Frederik, Mary and Christian will make a private visit to Australia next month. Information so far is that they will be in Hobart and Sydney.

From The Sydney Morning Herald:
Mary and boy Oz bound
October 9, 2006 - 8:39AM

Danish Prince Christian and his mother, Crown Princess Mary, are heading to Australia next month for the infant heir's first visit to his mother's homeland.
The palace has confirmed Mary, her husband Crown Prince Frederik and their one-year-old son will make a private visit to Australia in November, New Idea magazine reports today.
"It's true. I can confirm the prince and princess are going to Australia in November," palace spokeswoman Lis Frederiksen told New Idea.
"But I must emphasise it is a private visit. There are no official engagements."
The visit will be Christian's first to Australia, and his first introduction to some of his mother's family and friends.
It is expected to coincide with the tour of the Danish research ship, Galathea 3, which docks in Hobart on December 7 and in Sydney on December 10.
The ship belongs to the Danish Expedition Foundation, for which Prince Frederik is royal patron.
Prince Christian was born on October 15 last year, 17 months after Crown Prince Frederik wed his Tasmanian bride. AAP


Crown Prince Frederik has been taking on more duties with a view to him doing more to relieve his mother and also to further his own development as king-in waiting. Queen Margrethe has long made it clear that her son can very much take on some of her many duties when he was ready for it. And it appears Frederik is judged to be ready now that he has settled in his marriage and has become a parent. The Crown Prince's family life is well established and Frederik has reached a state in his life where he is ready to take on more commitments and to live up to his role as Crown Prince.
There is no set date but a smooth transition is in progress. Frederik has been regent a number of times recently and for the past months he has conducted several public audiences at Christiansborg Slot in place of his mother, although she was in the country and could have very well done it herself. During the audiences Frederik will meet a wide selection of the population of Denmark and will find out first hand what is going on in society. That's not the worst schooling for a future king.
Frederik has had other tasks as well. Last month he was present at Dansk Samvirkes yearly meeting at Kronborg Castle instead of his mother. The Queen is patron for the association, and it's unusual for her not to appear at the yearly meetings. But as a sign of the new arrangements it was Frederik who took part.
"Along the way it is natural that the Crown Prince take over tasks from his mother", the master-of-ceremonies Christian Eugen-Olsen confirmed, but he denies that there is any fixed time schedule. (With thanks to Muhler.)

Yes! we are getting ready for Prince Christian's birthday. Keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile The Hobart Mercury has a Christian birthday picture gallery


Some photo catch-ups!

Billed Bladet reported further on Mary's visit to Vollsmose where she talked to unemployed women and those involved in tackling community problems. Mary got an insight into the problems of women in the community, says Billed Bladet.




September 7, 2006. Crown Princess Mary with Prince Christian in the stroller, in Newport, USA. With nanny Mette Hansen and security staff (out of view) they are returning to the house where they were staying after shopping. They were visiting Frederik while he sailed in the Farr 40 World Championship.




And finally, yes, we are aware of the rather rampant speculation about Crown Princess Mary being pregnant. Our attitude is we can't know until we know! But, rest assured we have an eagle eye or two peeled for any announcement.