Queen Mary has welcomed two new members into the royal fold in Denmark and taken the time to explain just where their unusual names have come from.
The famous royal stables in Copenhagen have two new residents and the Danish queen visited them as they settled into their new home.
The Oldenborg horses were born and bred in Denmark and were given the royal seal of approval soon after their arrival.
Queen Mary petted them and fed them as she toured the stables to see the new additions.
And she also saw their name plaques. The horses have been called ‘Flik’ and ‘Flak’ and as well as matching one another, they have a link to plenty of royal history.
As the Danish royals explained, the first horses called Flik and Flak in the stables took up residence in the reign of King Christian X, who ruled from 1912 until 1947 and who was the great grandfather of Mary’s husband, King Frederik X.
(Kongehuset)
The names, Denmark’s royals said, were also chosen because they start with the letter F, just as the name of the current king.
But there’s also a link to the royal future. Soon after the birth of Mary and Frederik’s eldest child, Crown Prince Christian, in 2005, the baby boy was presented with a pony by Denmark’s government, called Flikflak.
The latest Flik and Flak are joining one of the oldest royal stables in the world. They are now home to around 20 horses which are used to draw royal carriages during ceremonial events including the New Year celebrations. However, once they were the home of 250 horses at a time.
The stables are located in the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and they’re one of the few parts of Christian IV’s palace to have survived a fire.
The stables are also open to the public on certain days of the week.
