Crown Princess Mary opens Odense Flower Festival

Crown Princess Mary opened the Odense Flower Festival last week, one of the largest flower festivals in Denmark.

Crown Princess Mary was greeted by the Mayor of Odense upon arrival and attended the opening ceremony for the 20^th edition of the flower festival.

“For [the] Odense Flower Festival, it is an extraordinary honour that the Crown Princess has accepted our invitation,” said Anne Ammitzbøll Rasmussen, the Secretary of the Odense Flower Festival Association in a statement on the Festival’s website.

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Når sommeren går på hæld, blomstrer det i Odense, hvor over 100.000 planter i forskellige opsætninger er udsmykket til byens årlige blomsterfestival. Som protektor åbnede H.K.H. Kronprinsessen i dag festivalen, der denne sæson fejrer 20-års jubilæum. Årets tema er derfor ”På tidsrejse: Med tiden i centrum”, og ved dagens åbning mødte Kronprinsessen mange af de gartnere og frivillige, der har arbejdet på at gøre festivalen klar. Det er fjerde gang, at Hendes Kongelige Højhed åbner Odense Blomsterfestival, og ved dagens åbning navngav Kronprinsessen en ny hortensia, der fik navnet ”Princess of Passion”. Hendes Kongelige Højhed har været protektor for Odense Blomsterfestival siden 2012. ? Carsten Bundgaard, Ritzau Scanpix og Odense Blomsterfestival ©

A post shared by DET DANSKE KONGEHUS (@detdanskekongehus) on Aug 15, 2019 at 11:57am PDT

“On the one hand, we [see] Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess as an excellent representative and a unique gathering point for the whole of Denmark, and, on the other hand, as a patron she shows an open and sincere interest in the work that underlies our big annual event.”

The Odense Flower Festival receives over 200,000 visitors each year, according to its official website, and has occurred annually since 1999. According to organisers, it takes an entire year to plan the next year’s show and they work with over 200 companies to ensure that there are enough flowers for the event.

“With her internationally exciting background, the Crown Princess contributes most positively to Danish cultural life and precisely this year, where the flower festival carries on the title ‘On Time Travel: With Time at the Centre’, it gives the Crown Princess an extra dimension with her personal history and great commitment in relation to the Festival opening,” said Ammitzbøll Rasmussen.

Crown Princess Mary has been the patron of the Odense Flower Festival since 2012 and has opened it on several occasions – in 2006, 2012, and 2017.

Crown Princess Mary also named a brand-new flower and attend a reception for the flower show at Odense City Hall.

The hydrangea that Crown Princess Mary named will be known as the ‘Princess of Passion.’