Joachim & Marie in Berlin for Danish-German neighbour conference

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie in front of the Reichstag. Photos © MSN.dk/colourpress

Last Friday, June 27, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie made their first official visit abroad together to Berlin. The object of the visit was to open a conference for the Danish-German neighbourhood project called 're:connect', to strengthen the relationship between Denmark and Germany. The conference was opened by Prince Joachim who delivered "a long and elegant speech in German", according to Billed Bladet. It was at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin, and afterwards Joachim and Marie visited an exhibition of porcelain manufacturer 'Royal Copenhagen', also at the Nordic Embassies, before visiting the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the remains of the former Berlin Wall. They visited an exhibition at the Emil Nolde Foundation in Berlin, which has its main location in Seebüll near the German-Danish border. At what remains of the Berlin Wall, German priest Manfred Fischer showed them the site and talked to them about the Wall Memorial exhibit.

Meanwhile Princess Marie has been getting some flack in Denmark for pulling out of an event with the Danish Boys Choir at the OddFellows palace last week on the afternoon before the performance. The choir sang at Joachim's and Marie's wedding and Prince Joachim attended on his own. Marie's name was also removed from the calendar for what ended up being Joachim's solo attendance at the Rosenborg Tattoo, marking the 350th anniversary of the Royal Danish Life Guards the day before a private visit to Geneva for a friend's wedding and then the trip to Berlin. After some pressing questions from the press, Prince Joachim said Marie had been unwell.



Photos © MSN.dk/colourpress, Daylife/Reuters



In Geneva for a friend's wedding. Photos © Niels Henrik Dam/Billed Bladet

Billed Bladet 'Forelskede Joachim og Marie på lynvisit i Berlin'
TV2 article 'Marie tog Berlin med storm'

MSN.dk starlounge gallery
TV2 photo gallery
B.T. photo gallery

Marie & Joachim @ French Embassy, Copenhagen

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attended their first official duty together yesterday evening at a reception for the couple at the French Embassy in Copenhagen at the invitation of the French Ambassador Madame Bérengère Quincy.



Photos © TV2/Scanpix, Uffe Kongsted/MSN.dk

TV2 article 'Marie strålede: Dejligt at være dansker!' - Marie beamed: Lovely to be a Dane!
Marie resembled the true princess when she arrived yesterday for a reception at the French Embassy in Copenhagen with her husband Prince Joachim. Dressed in a royal blue, knee-length dress she beamed like the sun, when she gave her charming smile to those who attended and a tense waiting press.
When B.T.'s journalist asked Marie how it feels to be Danish, the princess trumped it all by answering a beautiful Danish: "It is lovely, very lovely."
And no doubt Prince Joachim was proud of his beautiful wife. The smile on his face was just as big as his support.
But as soon as a journalist asked Marie, how it goes with learning the Danish language, Joachim came to the rescue...
"It's lovely, very lovely," Princess Marie.
Language-wise it couldn't have been a better start for Marie since all the conversation at yesterday's arrangement was in French.
The arrangement at the French embassy became Marie's début in her life as a royal representative.
The début was really to have been last week with The Danish Boys' Choir's appearance in the Odd Fellow's Palæet in Copenhagen, but to everybody's astonishment the princess didn't turn up. She totally took her revenge yesterday.
On Friday Marie has to go on her next royal job away from home.
This time they go to Berlin, where Joachim and she according to B.T. are guests in connection with the opening of a Danish-German neighbour project.

B.T. 'Marie: Det er dejligt at være dansker'

TV2 photo gallery

Mary on day two in London

Crown Princess Mary had another busy day in London today visiting BFI Southbank to launch a film-making attraction for children. The royal visit marked the launch of a summer long chance to experience Film-X On The Road at Southbank, which is a mobile interactive film studio for children and teenagers based on the Danish Film Institute's popular Film-X in Copenhagen. Later Mary walked to the Danish Embassy in London for lunch and for the Sust-DANE-able Architecture Exhibition. In the evening Mary and Princess Benedikte were at the opening of an exhibition of the Danish painter Wilhelm Hammershoi, at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London. Princess Benedikte is also in London for a presentation ceremony for the Baden-Powell Society.



From London SE1 website Danish princess visits the South Bank (Tuesday 24 June 2008)
Princess Mary of Denmark has visited BFI Southbank to launch a film-making attraction for children. The Australian-born Crown Princess was greeted by the BFI Southbank artistic director Eddie Berg who in his speech welcomed the princess to "the most extraordinary cultural quarter in Europe". The royal visit marked the launch of a summer long opportunity at BFI Southbank to experience Film-X On The Road, a mobile, interactive film studio for children and teenagers modelled on the Danish Film Institute's very popular Film-X in Copenhagen. The installation in the BFI Southbank foyer consists of a green Morris Minor equipped with microphones and two editing stations. The set is designed for around ten children who can choose between various pre-set background films, such as a car chase, serving as frames for their own scripts. Working in crews, the children direct, act, shoot, edit and design the sound for their films. The studio is at BFI Southbank until Wednesday 20 August when it will travel to Filmbyen in Aarhus, Denmark, as part of its journey in both Denmark and around the world to strengthen international cultural exchange in the area of film. Also present at the opening was head of the DFI Film Workshop Prami Larsen and Danish culture minister Brian Mikkelsen. Accompanying the Princess as lady-in-waiting on the hour long visit was Tanja Doky, wife of the well known jazz musician Chris Minh Doky.



Photos © London SE1 website, AP/GDP, PhotosHopper/sulakha.com, Nordjyske.dk/Jytte Nielsen/Scanpix

Berlingske Tidende 'En indadvendt dansker indtager London' - A withdrawn Dane conquers London
The Silent Poetry is the name of the next Hammershøi exhibition, which is opened today by Crown Princess Mary in London.
The withdrawn Danish painter work in the British capital has already created a new fascination for his works of art.
Crown Princess Mary tonight officially opened a special exhibition at the Royal Academy in London with 60 of Vilhelm Hammershøi's works of art...
Vilhelm Hammershøi made his name when he made his début as a 21-year-old and spent his entire life fascinated by grey and all the colour and shades of Scandinavian light.
Thus his huge passion for simple and pure style was such that he made a virtue of furnishing his apartments in Copenhagen's Strandgade using the same principles: grey and white walls, dark floors and few, well loved pieces of furniture...
Age has not diminished the style nor is Hammershøi's large works of art less impressive.
While Gaugin and Matisse exploded in colourful experiments in Paris and elsewhere, where Vilhelm Hammershøi went honeymooning, he maintained his artistic endeavour more or less within the grey-toned scale and at home in the living room where he painted dancing dust, streaks of light and figures which nearly always stand with their back to the viewer.
One of the Danish painter's more well-known British admirers, former member of Monty Python and globetrotter Michael Palin, says that it is just the quiet choice of subjects in which the fascination of Hammershøi's works of art lie.
Of the portrait paintings they are not just art, but small riddles.
"They raise questions, which drill themselves into the soul and that don't want to let go," Michael Palin said about his agelong fascination with the Dane's works of art, and he himself owns one or two of them.
Michael Palin's big attraction for Hammershøi has existed since he put together a documentary in 2005 for the BBC about the Danish painter, whose private life was so private that it's still a kind of mystery what moved inside the man who became one of Denmark's most well known artists.
The programme is re-broadcast on Sunday this week on the occasion of the exhibition at the Royal Academy...
"His art is deep and when one understands it at long last, it always causes questions about what is important and essential in art," Rilke wrote in admiration of the Dane...
Hammershøi reached fame in his lifetime, but shortly after his death from cancer at 61 his works of art started to be overshadowed by more colourful artists, and Hammershøi was almost forgotten. But it disn't disappear. With a new wave of symbolism, the Dane again became interesting and on the international stage is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and Guggenheim in New York which have had special exhibitions of the Dane's works of art.

Business.dk 'Dansk brugskunst på London-messe' - Danish applied art at London fair (by Annette Suhr)
Crown Prinsess Mary has visited Håndværksrådet's export drives at the home and the interior fair Summer Fair in London...
The Crown Pncess was there in to greet 11 Danish exhibitors, who represent many of the more down-to-earth goods which are sold at interiors and applied art shops all overry, and in several cases by the companies which operate world wide.
Six displays were established in especially for the fairand to make themselves more visible in the British market.
The companies are Fabric Copenhagen, YES/Bags,Husets Møller, Ørskov & Co, Lydia Wienberg and CIMI Beauty Bags, who respectively sell silk blankets/pillows, bags, baskets, furnishing fabrics and toy, artist cards..."Many small companies do not have the resources to search for new markets, and here Håndværksrådet can help, both financially and practically," reports Susanne Baden Jørgensen, who is a project leader for the small export drive. She has been extra busy on the weekend with among other things having to take care of the bouquet of flowers for the Cown Princess and all in all to coordinate the course of the visit. The drive, which is celebrated for the third time, takes place in London's large fair centre, ExCel, which lies in the enormous Dockland area.
Three other Danish interior and applied art companies are represented, and one of them is Green Gate, which is there for the third time.
"The time for the British fair is good. Here we can show the new autumn products for the first time, and that has great importance for us," says manager Jesper B. Christensen from Green Gate says.
"By showing the collection for our agents and customers so early in the season, we have a chance to alter some of the products a little, before we have to display at the great interior fairs in Germany and Paris in August and September. The London Fair has been a great success for us."
"Great Britain makes up about 15 pct. of our turnover and the Green Gate products are sold in over 300 shops in the country.
Each shop buys 75,000 DKK on average twice a year, so that's many units," Jesper B. Christensen emphasizes.
Green Gates is known for itsflowered and striped Home collection, which consists of everything om kettle holders, pillows, table cloths, china and lights to a linen and pyjamas, the last for both children and the adults.
The whole concept has a very Scandinavian look, an style that is a great success with conscious consumers the world over.

Hello! magazine 'Charismatic Princess Mary the star guest at London trade fair'

The Mercury reports:
IT'S official -- Princess Mary will bring her baby daughter to Tasmania for the first time.
Mary yesterday confirmed she would return home this year with daughter Isabella, 14-months, son Christian, 2, and husband Frederik.
"We do have our plans this year to come to Australia," she told News Ltd while visiting London.
"I can't wait. It's been quite some time since we've been back in Australia."
The family is expected to travel to Tasmania shortly after the Beijing Olympics in August, eight years after Mary and Frederik met during Sydney's games.Christian has been to Australia before, but it will be Isabella's first visit Down Under.
"A lot of cousins and nephews are looking forward to meeting her for the first time," she said.Mary was in London to promote Danish business initiatives and cultural events.
Danish press were paying close attention to her choice of drinks, with pregnancy rumours swirling around her as always.
At a British Film Institute event she declined an offer of wine and instead sipped on water, only fuelling the speculation.
Mary was alone for a series of official functions in London, as husband Frederick embarked on an Arctic adventure with two other royals.
Frederick joined Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway on an ice-breaker bound for the North Pole this week.
The trio are patrons of the International Polar Year...
...Mary arrived for the opening of an art exhibition wearing a stylish knee-length, metallic-silver cocktail dress.
An earlier event was to launch a Danish interactive film studio for children. Mary said her son was more into the outdoors than watching television, though he was fond of the Teletubbies. Danish officials said they were unaware if Mary had brought her children to London.
The princess declined to say whether the trip to Australia would include public engagements: "That's something I can't make any comment on right now," she said.
She admitted to missing home despite her extraordinary jet-setting lifestyle.
"You're always homesick for family and friends," she said.
The royals last visited Tasmania in November 2006. Mary was three months pregnant with Isabella, while Christian was 13 months old. (the English News Ltd journalist mispells Frederik's name throughout the story - I corrected it for this post)

Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916)
Vilhelm Hammershøi: The Poetry of Silence at the Royal Academy of Arts

TV2 news clip (00:59)
TV2 video clip (01:11) - Michael Pallin says he will be returning 3 or 4 times

Mary on business & culture mission in London

Mary is accompanied by Dorte Thing (rear left), commercial advisor at the Danish Embassy on her visit to the Excel Exhibition Centre.

Crown Princess Mary is visiting London to take part in a business and cultural mission to promote Danish business intitiatives and cultural events. The visit includes the opening of the Vilhelm Hammershøi exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Unlike the more exploratory visit to New York last year for Creative Nation by Frederik and Mary, this visit to the U.K. is in support of a more established market. The U.K. is Denmark's fourth largest export market and with a Danish population of about 40,000, London boasts the largest Danish community outside Denmark.

Below, Mary speaks to exhibitors at the Danish Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' stand during her visit to the home and gift trade show called Summer Fair 2008 at the Excel Centre (June 23, 2008) in London. The Danish Princess' visit marks the beginning of a week of Anglo-Danish cultural and architectural events at venues including Legoland and the Royal Academy of Art:





Photos © daylife/Getty, Jesper Sunesen/Billed Bladet, WENN/celebrity.elle.com, Hello!/Getty, Peter Hauerbach/Her & Nu

Creative Nation London 2008
Creative Nation
Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916)
Crown Princess of Denmark to visit Summer Fair
trends inc. - Summer Fair
Bright Green Tour
Summer Fair London - international buying event for home fashion, gift and fashion accessories
Legoland Windsor
Co-Evolution at the London Festival of Architecture
sust-DANE-able - on the future of architecture at the Royal Danish Embassy in London
Danish architecture program
Danish Cultural Institute cultural events

Danish princess visits Summer Fair
By Mary Clarke
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark visited Summer Fair today to support the Danish Federation of Small to Medium Size Enterprises (DFSME) and Danish designers exhibiting at the show. The princess spoke to each exhibitor in the 95% Danish group of stands and accepted a gift from their collections.
GreenGate Scandinavian sales manager Thianna Breinholt said: “It was so lovely to have her here, she asked about all the products and our story. She really loved the baby quilts . We also had a chat about our location in Denmark and she talked about coming to visit the store.”
Jah/Bag co-owner Charlotte Buskbjerg said they had given the princess a goat skin jewellery box for her daughter and a red leather handbag with yellow flowers. She said the princess was particularly interested in the handbags Jah/Bag had produced in collaboration with Danish artist Jusse Volander.
Buskbjerg said: “It was the biggest moment in my life, after saying yes to my husband of course. She is so kind and very grounded. She really understood what we were doing and she even did some research about us.”
Fabric Copenhagen owner and textile designer Annette Egholm selected a velvet bag from her newest collection to give to the princess, which she said was gratefully received. The princess also complimented Egholm on the colours in her product range. The supplier's logo, a portrait of the last crown princess of Vietnam became a talking point as the princess commented on how beautiful she was and said that her father in law was especially fond of Vietnam as he had lived there as a child.
Egholm said: “It’s an honour. She’s so nice and sweet and sympathetic and it’s fantastic that she took this trip here to visit us. It’s amazing really.”