DRF @ Danish Home Guard's 60th anniversary

Queen Margrethe, Prince Consort Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte attended the 60th anniversary parade of the Danish Home Guard yesterday at Nymindegab. Crown Princess Mary and her private secretary and lady-in-waiting Caroline Heering were uniformed participants in the parade. In the evening Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended a gala dinner celebrating the occasion with 300 guests and the Minister for Defence. The Home Guards celebrated the anniversary with an hour-long military parade in Nymindegab, where their school is located on the Jutland west coast. Crown Princess Mary was reported as smiling and comfortable with her fellow Copenhagen Region Home Guard members while waiting for the formalities to begin. Crown Princess Mary has the rank of lieutenant in the Home Guard, in which Queen Margrethe and her sister Benedikte also participated. The Queen made a speech commending the Home Guard and gave out medals to 68 veterans who have been members for the whole 60 years of the Home Guard's history. In her speech Queen Margrethe expressed pride in seeing Crown Princess Mary in the Home Guard uniform. The Queen inspected 300 soldiers which included Crown Princess Mary, who stood under the banner of the Total Defence Region Copenhagen, and said that her own time in the Home Guard had been some of the happiest memories of her youth.
"It has pleased me that the Crown Princess has chosen to train in the Home Guard, and I am proud to see the Crown Princess take part in the parade today," the Queen said. Mary was wearing a ceremonial sword as a recently appointed officer and like other members of the royal family, she also wore her Star of the Order of the Elephant.



In the evening Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended the gala dinner with around 300 guests including the Minister for Defence, Søren Gade:



Photos © John Randeris/JV.dk, Jørgen Kirk/Stiften.dk, Ole Bo Jensen/Hjemmeværnet, SogH

Hjemmeværnet media release (in Danish with photos)
Hjemmeværnet media release (in Danish with photos)
Danish Home Guard - wiki

Fyens Stiftstidende 'Dronningen: Hjemmeværnets indsats er uden sidestykke' - The Queen: The Home Guard's effort is unprecedented
The Queen expressed her pleasure about the Home Guard's ability to adapt, in her speech in Nymindegablejren.
The Home Guard's 60th anniversary in Nymindegablejren saw the participation of the royal family, at which the Queen gave a speech.
The Queen looked back on the Home Guard's work over the 60 years and noted how the Home Guard has been able to move with the times.
"It produces great respect for such an organisation that it is able to change," said the Queen, denoting a spirit of self-sacrifice which is why the Home Guard enjoys a very good reputation.
The Queen was happy, along with Princess Benedikte, that the Home Guard is in a strong position today and especially that Crown Princess Mary has chosen to participate in the Home Guard.
"Some of my best and most happy memories from my youth are from the Home Guard," smiled the Queen, who also was pleased to acknowledge the support the Home Guard always provides the royal family when it travels around the country.
The Queen extended her tribute to the Home Guard and said "In military history 60 years is a short time. But when looking at the Home Guard's effort, it is unprecedented and worthy of imitation." The Queen distributed medals to 68 veterans who have been members for the whole 60 years of its history.
TV2 article 'Mary luftede uniformen'
TVSyd article 'De kongelige til fødselsdag i Nymindegab'

JV.dk gellery
B.T. gallery
TV2 gallery
Dagbladet gallery (click on 'Næste')
Gert Blume gallery (beautiful photos!!)
Søren Steffen gallery

Hjemmeværnet video (01:56) - the soldiers in lighter uniforms with beards are headed for Afghanistan (thanks Muhler!)
Fyens.dk webTV (00:52)
B.T. webTV (00:46)
TV2 clip
DR.dk clip
JP.dk TV (00:50)
Se og Hør clip (00:46) - scroll down

Mary's Home Guard promotion to lieutenant after more training

Crown Princess Mary participated in Danish Home Guard officer training from January 19 to 21, on January 28 and then from February 17 to 19, 2009. Mary's further training was at the Home Guard's education centre in Christiansminde, near Jægerspris, in North Zealand. The course Crown Princess Mary has done, together with her her friend and private secretary Caroline Heering, was an officer training course, according to the royal court's statement.

It is the second time within a year that the Crown Princess has completed courses in the Home Guard. Last spring Mary finished the last part of her basic studies, where she learned to put out fires, handle a weapon and surveillance techniques, among other things. Mary and Caroline were also on an overnight bivouac with her group of fellow trainees. Mary belongs to the Total Defence Region of Copenhagen. With the completion of her officer training course, Mary was promoted to her new rank of lieutenant (løjtnant). Danish newspaper B.T. proclaimed: ‘The Crown Princes is ready to defend God, King and Country’. Head of the Home Guard, Major General Jan S. Norgaard, said it was an "honour and a pleasure" to have Crown Prince Mary as member of the Home Guard. "Her membership is of great importance for the Home Guard and can help create more interest among prospective members," Major General Norgaard said. Crown Princess Mary follows in the tradition of other female members of the royal family who also took military training courses. The orientation of the Home Guard has changed from a Cold War territorial home defence organisation to include personnel who do basic military training as well as conduct rescues, environmental disaster duties and fire-fighting, not unlike any civilian volunteer service. Queen Margrethe was also educated in the Home Guard, although it was a little differently organised in her time, when she became a major in the then Women's Air Corps (Lotte's).



Photos courtesy Crown Prince Couple's website photo bank / ©2009 Ole Bo Jensen

JV.dk 'Mary deltager i officerkursus i Hjemmeværnet'
Billed Bladet 'Mary hjemme igen efter tre dage som soldat'

And, a bit of retrospective from Queen Margrethe's training days, from the Billed Bladet archive:



Crown Prince Couple's press release:
The Crown Princess appointed a lieutenant in the Home Guard
Published Friday February 20th 2009
Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess has, after having gone through the Home Guard's officer course, been appointed a lieutenant in the Home Guard.
The Crown Princess is now connected with the staff in Total Force Region Copenhagen, which includes the capital, North Zealand and Bornholm.
The Crown Princess' education in the Home Guard has included first aid, arms service and shooting, fire fighting, rescue, environmental response as well as field and guard duty.
At officer courses the Crown Princess has, among other things, been educated in management and company leadership as a group leader at platoon commander level, mainly in safeguarding and surveillance roles.
In connection with the conclusion of the education on February 19th, 2009, the Crown Princess was appointed as a lieutenant by the Chief of the Home Guard, Major General Jan S. Norgaard.
"It is a great pleasure and an honour for the Home Guard to have the Crown Princess as a member. The Crown Princess has engaged keenly in the training and education. Her membership is of great importance for the Home Guard and can assist in creating further interest with potential members. We also take the Crown Princess' engagement as an acknowledgement of the 50,000 volunteers who work in the Home defence. We are happy about this cooperation," says the Chief of the Home Guard.
With her education in the Home Guard, which was began in the spring of 2008, the Crown Princess continues a tradition in the royal family to participate in a course in the Army.
Both Her Majesty The Queen and Princess Benedikte have studied in and had affiliation with the Home Guard, respectively the Air Home Guard and the Naval Home Guard.
The Crown Princess has been educated in the Army Home Guard.
P. Thornit, Chief of Court.

On a completely different note, there were various reports recently (EB, B.T., Newswire.ca and elsewhere) about Hello! magazine's annual list of the Global Personalities of the Year. Crown Princess Mary is no. 16 on the list:
1. Barack Obama
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Brad Pitt
4. Madonna
5. Prince Harry
6. Michelle Obama
7. Queen Rania of Jordan
8. David Beckham
9. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
10. Prince William
11. Rafael Nadal
12. Kate Winslet
13. Michael Phelps
14. Britney Spears, George Clooney, Hillary Clinton (joint)
15. Tom Cruise
16. Mary of Denmark
17. Letizia of Spain, Penelope Cruz (joint)
18. Nicole Kidman
19. Nicolas Sarkozy
20. Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue, Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole (joint)