Christian & Henrik open zoo elephant house

Prince Henrik took along his grandson Prince Christian to inaugurate the new elephant house at the Copenhagen Zoo earlier today. Prince Henrik is the patron of the Zoo and laid the foundation stone of the new elephant house in October 2006. The princes were welcomed at Copenhagen Zoo by Lars Lunding Andersen, managing director of the Zoo, Ole Andresen, chairman of board and Minister for Culture, Brian Mikkelsen. Prince Christian received the 'royal bouquet' in the form of an elephant soft toy. Prince Christian was the one who actually opened the elephant house by pressing a button on an interactive console. The elephants were a gift from Thailand's King and Queen to the Danish Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik on their last visit to Thailand. The elephant house was designed by Norman Foster and Partners. Nanny Mette Hansen lent a hand caring for Christian.



The new elephant house is designed by world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster (see Foster's projects)
Copenhagen Zoo 'Zoos nye elefantanlæg' (in Danish)
Berlingske Tidende photo gallery 'Livet i Elefanthuset'
Copenhagen X Elephant House slideshow and cph X interactive map and photos
Politken elephant photo gallery

B.T. 'Prins Henrik: Flere børnebørn, tak' - Prince Henrik: More grandchildren, please
Christian went to the new and very modern elephant house, which has been in use for some time by some pretty delighted elephants. They are visibly pleased with their new surroundings.
Prince Henrik said in his speech:
"It's a great pleasure for me to follow what happens in Zoo the year around. I've enjoyed that since I took over as patron 36 years ago and in the later years I have also had the opportunity to share the joy with my grandchildren. Unfortunately there are only four of them, but I hope there will be more."
It was Christian who inaugurated the facility. He did that by placing his hand on a button and so a very loud elephant trumpet was heard which was very cool!!
His nanny was also there, but she was secondary, because today Christian was with farfar (grandad).
Billed Bladet 'Prins Christian og farfar så elefanterne'
¡Hola!



Photos © ¡Hola!, B.T., Bunte/facetoface

Madeleine Glindorf's (wonderful!) photo gallery
Søren Steffen's photo gallery
B.T's photo gallery

TV2 news clip (0000) 'Zoos elefanter får nyt hus'
B.T. webTV (00:40)

Thanks Muhler! and Valentine!