Crown Prince Frederik & Crown Princess Mary in New York in 2005

Here is a little retrospective look at Mary's and Frederik's last trip to New York in January/February 2005. It was to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen and they had been married for eight months. The couple were accompanied by their Chief of Court, Per Thornit, and Mary's lady-in-waiting at the time, Countess Victoria Bernstorff-Gyldensteen, who was with her for her first two years and is a native of New Jersey but settled in Denmark since she married.

First stop was to visit the Danish Seaman's Church in Brooklyn, on the first day of their official visit to New York, on Sunday, January 30, 2005. They also posed for photographers in front of the East River with Manhattan in the background. They had had a few private days in New York before the official part of the visit began:



They visited Scandinavia House in Park Avenue. Crown Princess Mary visited with children in the Hans Christian Andersen room at Scandinavia House, a Nordic center on Sunday, January 30, 2005, in New York:



Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary are greeted by David Rockefeller, chairman emeritus of New York's Museum of Modern Art, as they arrive for a tour of the art museum known as MoMA on Monday January 31, 2005. They were escorted by Glenn Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art during their tour and stood before "Mural Painting" by Joan Miro for photographers:



Crown Prince Fredrick of Denmark and his wife Crown Princess Mary read to children at the Hans Christian Andersen School Complex in Harlem in New York, February 1, 2005. The royals were in New York to celebrate the Bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen:



Professor Harold Bloom spoke to an audience including Denmark's royal couple after Crown Prince Frederik presented Professor Bloom with the Odense city Hans Christian Andersen Award for 2005, on February 1, 2005, at the New York Public Library. The Danish royal couple were in the United States to commemorate the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary. Professor Bloom teaches at Yale University in New Haven, CT.



Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary greet guests at the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenial Gala Dinner held at the Public Library on the third day of their official visit to New York on February 1, 2005. Guests included actress Connie Nielsen and Helena Christensen:



They also visited the Blue Smoke Jazz Club:



The Copenhagen Post 'The royal couple takes Manhattan'

Why all the fuss about Hans Christian Andersen?

Sometimes it is interesting to know about the culture of the country we focus on most here at the blog. The Danes had a year long celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen in 2005 which the whole Danish royal family participated in. We also know the Queen has done many production designs for theatrical and ballet versions of HCA stories. The culture of a nation includes literature and history, and so (hopefully) there may be interest in this article. In the case of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Fairy Tales” for Adults...and How To Fight Terrorism by Norman Berdichevsky, we learn Hans Christian Andersen's stories have been translated into more languages (60) than any author, including Shakespeare, and second only to the Bible. Berdichevsky translates Danish texts and has worked at the University of Aarhus and Aalborg University.

...The subjects of many of these stories also come as a surprise for those who have always regarded him as a kindly old grandfather telling his fairy tales to adoring grandchildren, the theme of a sculpture in New York’s Central Park that portrays Andersen reading to children perched on his knee. The themes of his lesser known short tales include time travel, adultery, murder by decapitation, death, grim poverty and social inequality, child psychology, intense drama, split personality, husband-wife relations, snobbery, social climbing, Jewish identity, and a deep abiding love for his Danish homeland.

Your children may have enjoyed the colorful characters, wizards and creatures of the Harry Potter series or The Wizard of Oz but what have they learned of any value for later life? Most Andersen short stories have left a moral legacy about life, its struggles, human nature and the beautiful innocence of childhood. It is ironic that his work is much better known and appreciated to tens of millions of children in China or Russia who continue to love Andersen, than in America or Britain.

When Leningrad was under siege in World War II and the city surrounded and starving, the production of all consumer goods was reduced to the absolute minimum. People were eating sawdust and paper could not be spared to publish literature. The publication of only one book was allowed in 1942 - The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen...

To read the complete article click here on the New English Review

1. Hans Christian Andersen was from Odense on the island of Fyn, 2. Mary and Frederik unveiling a bust of Hans Christian Andersen in Sydney in March 2005 on Observatory Hill overlooking the harbour, and 3. King Frederik IX, Victor Borge and Queen Ingrid at the Hans Christian Andersen statue in Central Park in New York in October 1960.

Guess who? it's Christian that's who!

Arrival at Fredensborg Palace

From Billed Bladet (no. 20, 18 May 2007) – Prince Christian received them:

“Oh, look who’s standing there,” exclaimed a smiling Queen Margrethe as she was on the way up the stairs at Fredensborg Palace and saw her little grandson inside in the hall. Grandfather was also pleasantly surprised, as well as uncle Joachim and the Swedish royal guests, non of whom had expected to be received by the little eighteen month old Prince Christian, who seemed completely at ease on the stage. Wearing a grey windbreaker and with a little fire truck clenched in one hand, he just quietly waited for all of them to come inside, not least his dad, who was probably the only one in the crowd who knew about the “reception plan”.

Prince Christian was naturally not all by him self in the hall. His mother stood right beside him and the moment the royals swarmed inside Crown Princess Mary lifted him up in her arms, so the Swedish guests could greet him.

Crown Princess Victoria was one of the first to grab Christian’s little hand, just as his grandmother was quick to give him a pat on the cheek.

Crown Princess Mary did not take part in the Swedish state visit due to her maternity leave, but when the royal guests arrived at Fredensborg she popped over from Kancellihuset and up to the palace to greet them. Besides Christian she had also brought her little princess, but she slept through the all the commotion, even though everybody loudly admired her.

While the Swedish royal couple and Victoria were shown their rooms at the palace, Mary and Frederik drove back to Kancellihuset with the children. In the car was also Prince Joachim, so the three of them had a cosy time before the family lunch at the palace.

In the mean time, the little princess and her big brother were left in the care of the nanny. Christian was in high spirits after having proved that all that stuff about receiving royals really isn’t that difficult. (by Anna Johannesen and kindly translated by Muhler)

1) Uncle Joachim helps deliver Mary, Christian and Lille prinsesse to the front door of the palace 2) Billed Bladet helps us out with a big red arrow just in case we miss him! 3) "hello" all round 4) official photo. Princess Benedikte, Prince Joachim and Crown Princess Mary were given the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, Grand Cross, Sweden (Sv.N.Stj.1.) by King Carl Gustaf.

And from Her&Nu (no. 20, 18 May 2007) – Together again:

If there are two who get along well together it’s the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria. His mother and her father are cousins, and just like the parents, the two of them have known each other since childhood and been through thick and thin together. It was indeed a very fond reunion between Frederik and Victoria at Toldboden which brought back memories of seven years ago, when they met at the inauguration of the Øresund Bridge. So together during the official visit they chatted whenever possible, among other things about Frederik’s Lillepige and Victoria’s godchild Prince Christian.

Our Crown Prince Frederik is pretty used to having a pretty Crown Princess like Mary by his side to share duties as well as pleasures. The Swedish heir to the throne Crown Princess Victoria is still going solo when she is on official business, so for her it was something new to have a crowned colleague by her side during the official engagements with Crown Prince Frederik during the Swedish state visit to Denmark.
Victoria and Frederik complemented each other, carrying out their duties as perfect partners who took everybody by storm where ever they went, with lots of laughter and high spirits. This was especially so among the young atlethes from the integretion project Get2sport in Idrættens Hus (the House of Sports). Here the Danish-Swedish crown prince and crown princess were received as if they were international stars like the soccer icon David Beckham and his pop idol wife Victoria. Everybody wanted to take pictures of Frederik and Victoria with the cameras in their mobile phones. And the young gentlemen who had an opportunity for a little chat with good spirited Victoria had problems hiding the fact they found the Swedish Crown Princess very charming. (by Maria Vejen Jung and kindly translated by Muhler)

1) At the ballet, Princess Elisabeth, Countess Sussie and Count Ingolf of Rosenborg (Elisabeth and Ingolf are brother and sister and children of Frederik IX's younger brother Knud, so are therefore cousins to Margrethe, Benedikte and Anne-Marie) 2) Mary's first lady-in-waiting, Victoria Bernstorff-Gyldensteen, her husband was accompanying the Swedish royal guests during the visit 3) an old photo of Queen Ingrid at the wedding of nephew Carl Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath in 1976, like Frederik and Mary, they met at the Munich Olympic Games 4) Queen Silvia places her bouquest below a portrait of the beloved Queen Ingrid 5) the two regent couples at the Town Hall in Malmö at the end of the state visit.