Today, the Danish Royal Family attended the official opening of the Danish Parliament at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Queen Margrethe, the Crown Prince Couple, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, as well as Princess Benedikte, were received by official members of the Parliament just before noon when the first session of the parliamentary year began. The opening of the Parliament takes place each year on the first Tuesday of October.
The Danish Royal Family has a passive role in this opening, in opposition to the royal families of Sweden, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom. Indeed, Queen Margrethe doesn’t make a speech during the opening, but the Royal Family are present, as a symbol, during the first session. There is no parliamentary debate during the first session, but the Prime Minister makes a speech in front of the members of the parliament.
Just like last year, the first parliamentary session was not without a few issues. First, protestors from the Green Party were on the sidewalk nearby and waited for the Royal Family to arrive before starting their protests. The members of the Royal Family did not enter together, as usual, so they had to wait for the Queen outside of the Palace, and they had to pretend not to hear the protestors across the streets.
There was also a little mishap when the Royal Family was supposed to enter Christiansborg Palace. Usually, a member of the Parliament accompanies each member of the Royal Family inside. Today, the President of Parliament walked with Queen Margrethe and the second most important member of the Parliament walked with Crown Prince Frederik, as expected. But the three remaining members of the Parliament seemed to have forgotten who was supposed to walk with Crown Princess Mary which led to the three of them and the Crown Princess, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie debating awkwardly in front of the steps of the entrance of the Palace while Princess Benedikte waited behind with the woman who was supposed to walk with her. Thankfully, the issue was quickly sorted, and everyone walked in not long after the Queen and the Crown Prince.
The Royal Family has attended the opening of Parliament since 1968; Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim both started attending the opening beginning when they were 18.
