Frederik & Mary @ American-Scandinavian Foundation Dinner, NYC

Crown Prince Frederik and Cown Princess Mary attended the 2009 American-Scandinavian Foundation Dinner tonight at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. The American-Scandinavian Foundation is a non-profit organisation which promotes international understanding through educational and cultural exchange. At the gala the ASF has honoured , former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, and his wife Deeda Blair, whom he married in Denmark and who was formerly head of the Lasker Foundation. Nikolaj Hübbe is also honoured, he is Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Ballet. The evening was emceed by Liv Ullmann, acclaimed actress and director. Proceeds from the gala benefit will go to the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s programs for educational and cultural exchange. Royal Danish cousin Prince Filipos of Greece was also present at the gala.

Yesterday (Thursday March 26) Frederik and Mary were in Denver, Colorado, where Frederik was involved in day-long activities in connection with the Sportaccord 2009 conference held there. Mary followed a private program. There was some bad weather affecting transport in Colorado and nearby states which created some doubt about the trip back east to New York. It appears they left this morning to arrive in time for the gala this evening, based on weather reports and planes to New York out of Denver.



Group photo above: Nikolaj Hübbe received an Amaerican-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) Cultural Award while socialite/philanthropist fundraiser Deeda Blair received a Distinguished Public Service Award. Photos © Daylife/Getty, AP, WireImage

Dance for You, No. 28, Jan-Feb 2009 "Designing the Primal: An interview with Nikolaj Hübbe"
The New York Times "Ready for a Giant Leap Back Home" - feature on Nikolaj Hübbe

For those interested, Mary's dress at the New York gala is by Julie Fagerholt of Heartmade (thanks Ayvee!) And with my correction, my apologies to Julie Fagerholt and to Ayvee, who gave the correct FYI from the start! A pic of the dress on parade at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

On Thursday Crown Prince Frederik was at Sportaccord 2009 in Denver while Mary followed a private program.

Crown Prince Frederik's speech at the sports conference 'Sportaccord' in Denver, Colorado, Thursday March 26, 2009:
I would like to warmly congratulate all parties involved in hosting Sportaccord 2009 in the scenic settings of the wonderful mile-high-city of Denver.
Bringing people together in the framework that Sportaccord provides, paves the way for new ideas to take shape and creates an environment that spurs the development of the sports community. Since the first stages in 2003, you have made Sportaccord into a widely recognized event, which annually brings together the World of Sport and enhances new initiatives.
Six months from now, we will hopefully meet again in Copenhagen, the capital of my home country, Denmark, for the IOC Session & Olympic Congress 2009.
We are proud, to be able to host such an important event. Many of the issues that have been touched on at this convention will be addressed in Copenhagen and crucial decisions for the world of sports will be taken at the congress. It is my hope, that all of you will contribute to make the 121st IOC Session & XIII Congress a success.
See you in Copenhagen.

B.T. 'Frederik og Mary får topkarakter i USA' - Frederik and Mary get top mark in the U.S.
The Danish Crown Prince Couple have impressed politicians, the press and nursing home residents during their visits in the U.S.
Chicago's mayor Richard Daley went to work with pleasure on Sunday. TV and newspaper journalists in both Iowa and Nebraska went out to cover stories. And...USA Today used space to cover the Crown Prince Couple's trip in the U.S.
On Saturday Frederik's and Mary's official trip to the U.S. will end.
But even though the Crown Prince Couple go home, they leave many good impressions.
Torsten Jansen, responsible for the PR Department at the [Royal Danish] Embassy in Washington calls the visit an "unconditional success": "Frederik and Mary do something special. They are very capable ambassadors for Denmark. And they are also quite good at talking to everybody they meet," says Torsten Jansen, who followed Frede and Mary on their trip from Chicago, through Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado.
The couple will go to New York City where the visit will end on Saturday evening.
It isn't only Torsten Jansen who gives Frede and Mary top marks.
Since the beginning of his career as Chicago's mayor in the mid-eighties, Richard Daley has met lots of royals from all over the world.
But Frede and Mary made an especial impression on him.
"Many Americans are unsure about how to see the whole idea about kings, queens, princes and princesses. But if they met Mary and Frederik, they'd suddenly understand what it was about. The two are actually not just fantastic representatives of their country, they are also wise and pleasant human beings," Daley said.
And people who know the mayor emphasised it's very unusual for he and his wife to cancel their loved freedom on Sundays (as they did for Frede and Mary) to have an official lunch with the visitors from abroad.
Billed Bladet 'Kig i Marys USA-garderobe' - Look at Mary's U.S. wardrobe: about the 'beautiful, smart and practical' choices Mary has made for the trip which will be covered in more detail in the upcoming edition of the magazine and a small gallery from the visit

Sportaccord: Royal Back Up (YouTube 03:29)
TV2 clip (02:01)

Frederik & Mary: green day in Chicago to evening in Des Moines

Today the Crown Prince Couple has taken part in the Climate and Energy Conference in Chicago, arranged by the City of Chicago and the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington DC. Crown Prince Frederik gave the opening speech at the conference. Later in the morning the Crown Prince Couple were given a presentation on Chicago's green initiatives, including a visit to Chicago's "green roofs" at Millennium Park, arranged by the City of Chicago and accompanied by Mayor Richard Daley and his wife Maggie. Opened in 2004, Millennium Park is 24.5 acres of redeveloped inner city land which is one of the largest intensive greenroof projects in the world. It sits over two parking garages on a gradient of 1% with necessary irrigation systems and is therefore considered to be a 'greenroof'. The project cost $475 million and the roof covers the two parking garages, incorporates landscape art, full-sized trees, a skating rink, a transit centre and a 1,525-seat indoor performance centre. It has become a popular public space in Chicago, although it has been mentioned by one commentator as a folly (in the classical landscape architecture sense), but since it works as public space, he doesn't hold it against it. The Crown Prince Couple had lunch with the conference delegates before they visited the Danish Old People’s Home of Chicago, a home for senior citizens of Danish decent during the afternoon, before departing for Des Moines. This evening Frederik and Mary are attending a dinner reception with representatives of the Danish-American community in Des Moines to mark the historical ties between Denmark and Iowa, as well as marking present and future cooperation arranged by the Governor of Iowa, Chester J. Culver. The Governor has made a few trips to Europe, including Denmark, to develop green industry projects in Iowa. Iowa is one of the U.S.'s biggest producers of wind energy and has close relationships with Danish clean energy companies. The U.S has just recently overtaken Germany as the world's biggest wind energy producer, with China in third place. The global wind turbine market was worth about $47.5 billion last year, with Denmark one of the biggest suppliers in this area of industry*.

At Millennium Park, the greenroof project in central Chicago, during the presentation of the city's green vision. Frederik and Mary are shown around by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and his wife Maggie. Frederik's upcoming membership of the IOC and the Danish vote on the city to host the 2016 Olympic Games would not be far from Mayor Daley's thoughts (Chicago 2016). Frederik and Mary are outside the Cloud Gate, or the Bean, as it is known locally:



At the Climate and Energy Conference where Frederik gave the opening address:



At the Danish Old People's Home in Chicago. Note the Royal Copenhagen dinnerware, Frederik and Mary use this at home and they gave a platter from the collection to King Harold of Norway for his 70th birthday. Also note the painting (print?) behind Frederik while he is speaking: it is the familiar figure of Christian X out and about in Copenhagen on horseback:



Frederik and Mary arriving at the Des Moines Club, Iowa, to dine with local Danish-Americans:



Photos © DayLife/Getty/AP/Wireimage

Addressing Climate Change with Urban Sustainability Solutions - pdf of the conference program (thanks jema!)

Millennium Park
Millennium Park on wikipedia - check out its interesting history and green credentials
Millennium Park image gallery
* Bloomberg: U.S. Takes Global Lead in Wind Power, Passes Germany - this is relative though, because the U.S. has a larger land mass and larger population than Germany. Denmark has about 20% of its energy sourced from wind power, which is a greater overall percentage as part of all energy produced. Germany remains the biggest producer of solar power (shame, Australia, shame!!) and has the highest percentage of renewable energy overall.

TV2 article 'Kronprins taler grønt i Chicago' - The Crown Prince talks green in Chicago (there is a news clip of Frederik and Mary at the conference down the page)
Hello!
Århus Stiftstidende 'Bombejoke koster dyrt' - Bomb joke costs dearly
An update on the bomb threat incident last Sunday. The man concerned, a businessman from Hinnerup, has had two charges made against him and a probable fine for a false bomb threat at the airport.
It just wasn't the proper time or place to make such a flippant remark.
This is what a 43-year-old businessman from Hinnerup acknowledges after he put his foot in it on the weekend with the remark there was a bomb in his bag as he was about to board the same plane to Chicago as the Crown Prince Couple.
At the beginning he was on a charge of disturbance of public transport and was sent home on the train to Århus because the captain of the SAS plane refused to have him on board.
So he is on a charge of creating fear in connection with the bomb threat which is punishable with a fine or a prison sentence for up to two years.
And added to that will be a charge about groundlessly bringing about alarm causing the turn out of police. This is punishable by a fine or a prison sentence for up to three months.
The man, who bitterly regretted his remark, can on top of all this expect a claim for damages from SAS.
Before the train trip home to Århus he gave over the 50.000 DKK cash he had on him to the police against a probable future fine and claim of damages.
The debate about plane safety has raged on stiften.dk, with readers divided between those who think he will get what he deserves while others think the reaction has been completely hysterical.
The Crown Prince Couple had only praise to givee for the way the incident was handled and they downplayed the delay of the plane's departure from Copenhagen.
"We experienced it as - undramatic," said Crown Prince Frederik.
Jyllands Posten - about Frederik's conference opening speech and his message that green energy creates growth with job creation through a climate friendly approach.
B.T. 'Selvsikker Frede' - Self-assured Frede
It was a very articulate and self-assured Danish Crown Prince who talked about a fruitful future energy cooperation between the US and Denmark on Monday morning.
Comfortably sitting on a bar stool to take pressure off the broken foot, Crown Prince Frederik opened an energy conference at Chicago's central cultural centre.
He explained why renewable energy is so important and why Denmark has made much progress in this area of science.
"Climate change is a fact," said Frederik with a conviction which the environmentally conscious U.S. President Barack Obama might agree with.
The Crown Prince briefly told about his sledge journey over the inland ice in Greenland, where he saw the results of global warming with his own eyes.
And Frede praised Chicago's own environmentally compatible initiatives at the same time - such as a completely new fleet of hybrid cars like the one that for the last two days has carried the Crown Prince Couple around the American metropolis.
The Crown Prince Couple's visit in the U.S. is largely about the exchange of ideas and designs.
But not everybody give the issues the attention it deserves.
"This kind of meeting have to be arranged in much bigger forums," said Will Evans, who is a manager of People's Gas - the company that supplies most of Chicago with gas and heat.
"Danes have an understanding of what is needed but I am not sure whether Americans are so clear. I haven't seen anything about this visit in the local, or even for that matter, the national American press. We talk about renewable energy a lot at internal government levels. But I do not know whether the American people are clear," said Will Evans, who also hoped to get the opportunity to greet Frede personally.
"He's a man who knows what he is talking about," Will Evans said.
Berlingske Tidende 'Kronprins i USA: Grøn energi skaber vækst'
ABC 7 Chicago 'Daley shows Danish royalty around Chicago' (thanks Valentine!)
Billed Bladet 'Mary viser farverne i Chicago'

Fyens Stifstidende gallery
Sydney Morning Herald gallery


TV2 photo gallery