Frederik, Victoria & Haakon to Svalbard archipelago in Norway for International Polar Year

As soon as he returned from the summer tour of southern Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik set off to join Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon Norway in Longyearbyen, Norway before setting off for the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. They joined the Swedish icebreaker Oden at the beginning of their six day polar research trip on June 21, 2008 to sail to Svalbard in Norway and the ocean and area around the archipilago. During the trip the Scaninavian royal successors ('thronefollowers' in Danish) will be shown research techniques and test equipment used in polar experiments on clouds in the Arctic environment. All three are patrons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 in their own countries. The media will not be onboard the Oden, so the next time we see them will be in Ny-Ålesund on Thurdsay.

"We are going to be cramped, but it will be all right," Crown Princess Victoria said as she boarded the ship, according to Svalbardposten.
"Are you going to have a party?" one of the journalists asked.
"When we are together it is always a party," Victoria said, who was the one who originally suggested the trip.
Even late in the evening the midnight sun shines very strongly.
"I am very happy to be able to show off a small part of Norway on a day like this," Crown Prince Haakon said.




Photos © Rakkestad Avis.no/Ole Åsheim/Nordlys/ANB, Karine Nigar Aarskog/International Polar Year website, Birger Amundsen/Svalbardposten, Hello!/Getty

International Polar Year news (in Norwegian)
Rakkestad Avis.no Kronprinsmøte (in Norwegian)
Nordlys.no 'Kongelig Svalbard-turné' (in Norwegian)
Aftenposten.no 'Kronprinsessen og det kalde kongeriket' (in Norwegian)
Berlingske Tidende 'Tronfølgere tjekker Svalbards skyer' - Successors check Svalbard's clouds
Crown Prince Frederik and the other Scandinavian successors are in Svalbard in connection with the International Polar Year.
Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Frederik arrived in Svalbard today (last Saturday) in connection with International Polar Year.
The three heirs to the Scandinavian thrones, who are patrons for the Polar Year in their respective countries will be in the area until Friday.
They are to be on an icebreaker for five days where tested equipment will be tested for a longer expedition later this summer.
"They leave today from Longyearbyen and sail up as close to the polar ice as they can get," the Palace in Oslo said to the Swedish news agency TT.
The purpose of the summer expedition called Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Summit is to examine the clouds and their meaning for the arctic climate.
Sweden's Crown Princess and Crown Prince Frederik got the idea a couple of years ago after the Swedish king's environmental initiative, the Royal Colloqium, had taken place in Greenland.
The heirs to the thrones will go on the icebreaker to Ny Ålesund on Thursday after which they'll go inland.
TV2 article 'Kronprinsen besøger isbryder' (in Danish)
B.T. 'De kongelige nyder at se på isbjørne i midnatssolen' (in Danish)
The Local.se
Royals join forces on Arctic expedition
22 Jun 08
The heirs to the thrones of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have embarked on an expedition to Svalbard in the Arctic.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Crown Prince Fredrik of Denmark will spend five days on an ice-breaker in Svalbard, a group of islands located in the Arctic off the coast of Norway.
The trio of royals will help to test equipment in preparation for a longer expedition in the summer.
Victoria, Haakon and Fredrik left the relatively mild Midsummer weather, donning winter clothes for their adventure which began in the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen on Saturday.
"They are leaving the four degree temperatures of Longyearbyen to travel as far up the ice as possible," said Sven Gjeruldsen of the Norwegian court to news agency TT.
The heirs and heiress will travel on the ice-braker IB Oden in the Arctic Sea to test newly installed equipment in preparation for the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Summit (ASCOS). The expedition aims to contribute to research about the clouds and their role in the Arctic climate system.
The expedition is part of the polar year, of which the three royals are patrons in their respective countries.
TV2 article 'Kongelig 'fætter og kusine-fest' højt mod nord' (in Danish)

Svalbard weather - as I write it is 1°C
Svalbard image links

Rakkestad Avis.no photo gallery

DR.dk NetTV (00:58)
TV2 news clip
TV2 Nyhetene.no clip (00:58)

Thanks pogo99, cph, gudinde and Valentine!

Frederik's 40th party at the Orangery

The final celebration of Crown Prince Frederik's 40th took place on Saturday night and well into Sunday. It was Crown Princess Mary who organised the party for 140 guests in the Orangery at Fredensborg Palace. The guests were entertained by jazz music during the evening and Frederik preferred that there were no speeches. But a later report is that there were speeches in Danish anyway. But there were lots of entertainments in the form of songs from friends and also from Mary. One of them was written by Jarl Friis-Mikkelsen, and was sung with great enthusiasm by five friends and performed in the style of a boy band. Frederik joined in on the harmonica. Late in the evening the party moved from the Orangery to the garden behind Chancellery House in a marquee and with a band. Drinks were served with ice cubes of Greenlandic inland ice, which the Royal House had bought in Copenhagen earlier in the week at the Greenlandic specialist store Butik Kamik. At 5:00am on Sunday morning the last guests slipped away from the party. According to this article, Mary wrote and sang a song for her husband at the party with the help of a well-known Danish composer and friend of the DRF, Bent Fabricius-Bjerre (see report below).

There is media speculation that the attendance of Daniel Westling with Crown Princess Victoria is a signal that another royal wedding is imminent. Daniel and Victoria have been to a number of private royal events together, including the 60th birthday of King Carl Gustav (Sweden).

According to Amber Petty, who works on a breakfast radio show in Adelaide, she gave Frederik some South Austalian wines as a gift the night before the party. The dress she wore was by a local designer. It is a "cherry-red georgette, strapless cocktail length dress with a beaded bodice and soft waterfall cut skirt". Amber is staying at Chancellory House with the Crown Prince Family and will remain holidaying for another two and a half weeks.

Mary and Frederik, John and Susan Donaldson, Princess Alexandra S-W-B and Count Jefferson, Carina Axelsson and Prince Gustav, Tatiana Blatnik and Prince Nikolaos, Mette-Marit and Haakon, Daniel Westling and Victoria, Amber Petty, the Orangery on Saturday evening:




Preben Kristensen and Søren Hedegaard, Søren Hedegaard, Anja Camilla Aladji and partner, Hella Joof and Ellen Hillingsø, Peter Warnøe and Julie Tholstrup, Rikke Juul and Julie Mølsgaard, Jean and Ditlev Ahlefeldt-Laurvig, Helle Reedtz-Thott and Otto Reedtz-Thott, Rose Gad Foss and Holger Foss, Tanja Kjærsgaard Doky and Chris Minh Doky, Caroline and Peter Heering:




MSN Starlounge 'Alt om fødselsdagen: Jarl og Mary sang for Frederik' - Everything about the birthday: Jarl and Mary sang for Frederik
Crown Princess Mary secretly prepared her own completely personal present for Crown Prince Frederik - a song! According to MSN Starlounge's information she had allied herself with Bent Fabricius-Bjerre and written a song for her man.
During the evening she sang it for him to one of Bent's old tunes.
Several of the visitors told MSN Starlounge that it was the evening's absolute climax, and that Frederik - that many other visitors - shed a tear hearing Mary's song.
"It was so romantic," a visitor said.
Frederik's 40th birthday was full of experiences.
After a beautiful menu in the Orangery the visitors moved late in the evening to Kancellihuset...
Here entertainment began with Jarl Friis-Mikkelsen, who also sang for Frederik.
Then Anne Linnet sang some classics...
Frederik's good friend Lars H.U.G. played some songs...
About midnight Alex Nyborg Madsen's band Led Zeppelin Jam got going.
Later a DJ took over and played all Frederik's favourite songs including from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns N' Roses.
"It was incredibly cosy, and the guests looked as if they realy had fun," Alex said when he left Fredensborg Slot...The last guest left Kancellihuset at 5am.

Billed Bladet 'Mary strålede til Frederiks fest' - Mary shone at Frederik's Party
¡Hola!

Billed Bladet photo gallery
B.T. photo gallery
Søren Steffen

Added: Her&Νu video clip (reporter Karen Balselv and camera Kasper Wenstrup)

(thanks gudinde, sissi and jema!)