Mary, Christian & Isabella @ horse competition

On Friday May 16 Crown Princess Mary attended the Grand Prix 2008 at Bernstorffparken with Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and Mary's long time friend and riding companion Charlotte Velin. Charlotte's brother Thomas Velin was competing with other Danish riders in the Nations Cup over the four day competition. Prince Christian eagerly looked at the big horses. Christian received a pony called Flikflak from the Folketinget as a christening gift in 2006, but a note in Billed Bladet tells us he is still too small to ride.



Grand Prix 2008

A 3.8 billion year old polar bear...

Mary and Frederik receive a deputation from the editor-in-chief of Billed-Bladet and the sculptor, who are giving an interesting christening gift.

Last week Mary and Frederik received deputations at
Christian VIII’s Palæ, Amalienborg to accept gifts to mark Prince Christian's birth. This is a unique gift of a sculpture of a polar bear from rock from Greenland which is 3.8 billion years old, sculpted by Niels Christian Frandsen (in the sweater and glasses in the middle of the photo).

Frederik pronounced the gift from Danish royalty weekly Billed-Bladet as "fantastic" and it is now housed in The Chancellery House, the Crown Princely family's home at Fredensborg Palace where Prince Christian can enjoy it. You can read the story here in Billed-Bladet (if you read Danish that is!).

Update!
Prince Christian has also been given a blue-eyed pony, although it might be a while before he gets in the saddle! Her name is Flikflak, and she is the gift to Christian from the Folketing, the Danish parliament. Seems a very appropriate gift for the child of horse mad Mary! According to TV2 and Billed-Bladet Flikflak is already a sweet and perky pony who will join her new friends at Fredensborg Palace stables after a bit more work to break her in so she is just perfect for Christian when he is old enough.
You can read about it here in Billed-Bladet (again, you need the Danish!).