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.”