On 3 June, Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Joachim, and Princess Marie attended a concert hosted in honour of Prince Joachim’s 50th birthday. Prince Joachim will celebrate his birthday on 7 June, but several musicians decided to organise a show for him to thank him for his work in the field of classical music as well as his patronages.
The concert was supposed to take place at the Royal Shooting Range in Solyst, but it was moved at the last minute to the Bellevue Theatre because of the weather. Crown Princess Mary was unable to attend as she is currently in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to attend the Women Deliver Conference 2019. However, Prince Joachim’s ex-wife, Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg attended the concert.
One of the main organisers of the concert is opera singer Jens-Christian Wandt who wanted to make a gift to Prince Joachim for his birthday as “Prince Joachim has always had a great love for the classical music, he is the patron of several classical ensembles and listens with great enthusiasm to both opera, chamber music, Danish songs, and choral music. Therefore, it is obvious that we are a number of artists who join together to give Prince Joachim this birthday present – and in that way thank him for his commitment to the world of classical music, but also to thank him for the great work he does as Prince of Denmark.”
A touching moment during the concert was when actress Susse Wold read poems written by Joachim’s late father, Prince Henrik on stage. Other performers included Jens-Christian Wandt, Bryan Rice, the Danish Boys Choir and the Danish Girls Choir.
At the end of the concert, all the performers sang a birthday song for Prince Joachim, and the Prince announced that he and Princess Marie had chosen Danske Hospitalsklovne (Danish Hospital Clowns) to receive all the profit from the concert. This association aims to “spread smiles and happiness to hospitalised children and their families.”
The official celebrations for Prince Joachim’s 50th birthday will continue on Friday, 7 June as Queen Margrethe will host a gala dinner at Christian VII’s Palace. Prince Joachim will be joined by his wife and his four children while the Crown Prince Couple will also attend with their four children.
