Frederik, Mary and the kids in Croatia

Crown Princess Mary arrived for holidays in Croatia on Sunday afternoon, 15th July, with Prince Christian and Princess Isabella. Crown Prince Frederik joined them later along with Caroline and Peter Heering. The Royal family was directed towards Zaton, close to the ancient Croatian town of Dubrovnik where the Seagull, a 54-metres-long luxury yacht, was waiting for them. The royal family and their friends would cruise in the Adriatic and see remote islands like Mljet in the National Park of Mljet. In the pictures below, Crown Princess Mary is seeing holding Prince Cristian when approaching the port of Zaton, while nanny Mette Hansen helps her with Princess Isabella when entering a rubber boat to get aboard the Seagull.



Mary and Frederik set sail for a holiday on the Dubrovnik Riviera - Hello! magazine

Many thanks to Janne, Britt, Valerie, and Corinne for the heads-up!

Mary, Christian, Isabella & Ziggy head for the park

With Crown Prince Frederik in Norway last week, Crown Princess Mary stayed at home with Christian and Isabella, as it would have been a little difficult to party with a baby and a toddler and probably wouldn't have been too much fun for the children, says Billed Bladet. On Sunday Mary went out walking in Fredensborg Park as she often does, and was met by Billed Bladet. Christian's nanny Mette Hansen pushed Isabella in her pram and Christian was in a push chair with Mary. Ziggy was her usual obedient and happy self.





For baby bloggers: Princess Isabella's pram is a Danish brand called Odder and here you will see that Crown Prince Frederik had an Odder pram when he was a baby, also a little more info on a couple of mentioned brands here.

Frederik at Skagen Harbour centenary

Today Crown Prince Frederik has attended the centenary celebration of Skagen Harbour. Skagen is at the northern-most point of the peninsula of Northern Jylland in mainland Denmark (not including Greenland and the Faeroes). It is where the Baltic Sea meets the North Sea and there have been a lot of summer harbour festival activities going on for some weeks. Skagen is a working port, has a well known fish market, a popular harbourside quay and it is destination for summer holidays (which includes Frederik and Mary for the last few years). One hundred years ago Skagen had a thriving artists colony called the Skagen Group and the Harbour Square has a 100-year-old replica of 20th century artist Carl Locher's arch of honour. The upcoming Skaw Farr 40 Race Week from July 12 to 14 will be in Skagen so Frederik will be hanging around.



skagen.net has 12 photos from the event
TV2/NORD video clip (1:59)
Top of Denmark - Skagen (English)
The Skagen Group were naturalist artists who had a great impact on Danish art (English)
Skagen photo galleries 11 albums 92 photos
Skagen's big day (in Danish)
Video about Skagen Harbour about the working harbour of Skagen in Danish (0:8:25)

Frederik at the Farr 40 regatta in Hankø, Norway

Crown Prince Frederik arrived in Hankø, Norway on Tuesday afternoon July 3 after the Sunday July 1 christening of Princess Isabella. Billed Bladet gave him a congratulatory bunch of flowers on his arrival.

Crown Prince Frederik has been and returned from the Farr 40 Nordic Championship in Hankø, Norway last week. Nanoq (which means polar bear in Greenlandic) came 16th in a field of 27. The conditions throughout the regatta and particularly on the last day were difficult. Italian Vincenzo Onorato in Mascalzone Latino came first and must be very happy with that result, as he is the defending world champion having won his first world championship last year in Newport, R.I. (he has been competing since 1999). Based in Portoferrio, Italy, Vincenzo Onorato has the distinction of being, how would we say it? do we still say politically incorrect? when he won last year's champonship. He said he had won many championships before but the Farr 40 victory was the sweetest of all. “I have won four world championships as a helmsman... but this is the best. Sometimes I have won when I didn’t deserve it, but this time we deserved to win. The Farr 40 is the best offshore boat in the world, she’s beautiful, she’s like a nice blonde. This is the best time of my life.”

We thought we would include this to demonstrate some of the passion for this class of boat and the whole concept of the one-size standard for all competitors. Presumably not all the competitors think of their boats as blondes. Onward and upward! Tomorrow the Farr 40 fleet and crews are weighed and examined in Skagen in Denmark for the beginning of the 12-14 July regatta hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club. The yachts are 40 feet long and all identical in design. They do ten races for a "best of" result. Each crew is made up of four professional and five to six amateur sailors. Each yacht must be driven by its amateur owner/helmsman. Racing is precise, tactical and intense. With all other factors being equal the skill and timing in each race is crucial. To keep track of Nanoq, look for a dove grey hull with the number 24 on the bow and the sail number DEN 7.



Left, 4 July Frederik arriving for part of the celebration of Queen Sonja's birthday and, right, Nanoq competing in the Hankø Farr 40 regatta.

4-8 July 2007 Nordic F40 Championship Results
photo gallery Nordic Farr 40 Championship, Hankø, Norway

Margrethe, Henrik & Anne-Marie on the Sea Stallion

The Sea Stallion is an archeological experiment at sea. The project is based at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and is a recontruction of the Skuldelev 2, a warship built in Dublin in 1042 in the Late Viking Age. The original was intended for crossings of stormy waters and open seas. The reconstruction experiment has been underway since 1996 and aims to test a Viking longboat of the era, the seamanship and logistics of sailing the vessel and what light it might shed on Viking society. It will be tested in the seas for which the original was built - the North Sea and the Irish Sea. The reconstruction journey is now at a new stage with the reconstructed ship built, tested and the volunteer crew selected. The journey has begun with this voyage from Denmark to Norway. The voyage this year will be the trip from Roskilde to Dublin and then in 2008 the return journey from Dublin to Roskilde. Crown Prince Frederik is the patron and is expected to go to Dublin to mark what is being described as the most significant archeological reconstruction ever undertaken.



The Sea Stallion meets up with the Dannebrog which is in Norwegian waters for the birthday celebrations of Queen Sonja. Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik and Queen Anne-Marie transferred from the Dannebrog to the Sea Stallion in Havhingsten, Norway.

Havhingsten fra Glendalough 2007 (in Danish) the project website
Sea Stallion from Glendalough 2007 (in English)
Sea Stallion video podcasts
Sea Stallion Politiken weblog (the latest in Danish)
The Sea Stallion's route to Ireland (google satellite view of the route)
The Sea Stallion project (in English)

The Vikings: 8th - 10th century AD
BBC History - Vikings

Thursday 5 July: A royal engagement
By Nathan Williams

After the terrible weather of the last few days, the ship was today blessed with good fortune. Last night they arrived at Lindesnes at the southernmost point of Norway. Here there are was once a Viking canal. This channel was built to allow Viking ships traveling along the coast to cross a narrow spit of land, saving them a considerable journey around the peninsula. The canal is thought to date back at least 1200 years, making it older than the original Viking ship itself. Over the centuries the canal silted up until almost no trace was left. After its discovery and excavation in 2001 the decision was made to re-dig the canal and today is the official opening day of restored canal.

What’s more, the Queen of Norway is on a birthday cruise in the area and she’s here to open the canal along with her birthday guest, the Queen of Denmark. The Royals arrived in their respective yachts this morning and the Sea Stallion went out to greet them. The Sea Stallion was dwarfed by the huge royal ships, but was gaining at least as much attention.

Following the opening ceremony, in which the dignitaries sailed down the canal serenaded by dancing Vikings, the Queen of Denmark came to see the Sea Stallion up close. Carsten offered to sail her out to her waiting yacht and, departing from the official schedule, she accepted. Whilst the Viking Ship may not be quite as comfortable as she’s used to, the welcome she received on board more than made up for it. The Queen takes a keen interest in archaeology, and plied the crew with questions about the ship and life on board. Her husband, the Prince, is himself an accomplished sailor and couldn’t resist taking a turn on the tiller.

For the Viking Ship it’s a huge morale boost (as well as a great photo opportunity). Now they’re hoping that their good luck will rub off on the weather.

Published: 2007-07-06

(NB: the BBC story has confused Queen Sonja with Queen Anne-Marie and there is a video clip link on the BBC page)

Can you speak Viking? Lots of words in English were adopted during the Viking age: sky, yacht, happen, lake, wind ... far too many to mention, so check it out here.
Map of the Viking invasions of Europe from 793
Indo-European root language - if you are an English speaker you are only four 'branches' away from Danish among Germanic languages - check out the Indo-European language tree
Old Enlish period c. 600 - 1100 scroll down a little for a timeline of Viking activity in England
A small sample at a glance of words borrowed from Norse

Added: DR1 video clip of the Queen, Prince Henrik and Queen Anne-Marie onboard the Sea Stallion.

And to Janne, as always, thanks!

Queen Sonja's 70th birthday

The official guest photo from Queen Sonja's 70th birthday celebration taken on the deck of the ship 'Kongeskibet Norge' in the Stavanger harbour, Norway. From left to right front row: Grand Duchess Maria Theresa, Prince Henrik, Queen Margrethe, Queen Sonja, King Harald, Queen Silvia, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Beatrix. Left to right middle row: Princess Astrid, Johan Martin Ferner, Crown Princess Maxima, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mette Marit, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde and Crown Prince Guillaume. Left to right back row: Prince Felix, Queen Anne Marie, Princess Märtha Louise, Ari Behn, Duke Christian, Princess Alexandra S-W-B, and Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth.

Today the celebrations for Queen Sonja of Norway's 70th birthday started in Stavanger, and will continue with a cruise along the coast of Southern Norway, terminating at the King and Queen’s holiday retreat at Mågerø.

Day celebrations in Stavanger


Luncheon at Hall Toll


Guests arriving to Flor and Fjære on Sør-Hidle for dinner



Celebration of The Queen's 70th birthday (programme)
Guest list for HM The Queen's 70th birthday (pdf)
VG Nett photo gallery
NRK.no photo galleries