Denmark has been pushing for a broader cultural presence on the global stage, and now that effort has found a prominent voice. Princess Marie, daughter-in-law to Queen Margrethe, has been appointed as a Special Culture Representative in the Culture Department of the Danish Embassy in Paris.
The news comes as Her Royal Highness and the rest of her family mark one year of living permanently in the French capital. Marie’s husband, Prince Joachim, has been appointed as a military Attaché to the Danish Embassy in Paris since September 2020.
In the statement she released for the occasion, Princess Marie took care to underline that her focus will always be the promotion of Danish interests in France, saying: “In my new role, I look forward to continuing to look after Danish interests – especially in the field of culture – in the coming years”.
Princess Marie is a native French speaker, and indeed was born in Paris. When she entered the Danish Royal Family in 2008, she found that the ties between her new home and her native countries were already strengthened by the presence of Queen Margarethe’s husband, Prince Henrik, who was also a French native.
Her Royal Highness immediately embarked on a journey to make her two identities an asset in her work, especially in the cultural field, and became patron of the Danish Student House in Paris, Alliance Française in Denmark, the Danish committee of Le Souvenir Français and Prix Littéraire des Ambassadeurs des Francophones, among many others.
The Princess’s previous work and education makes her well acquainted with the issue of cultural promotion abroad, and the techniques needed to make the promotion thrive.
This is not a position created for Princess Marie. Embassies are traditionally subdivided in sectors (military, economics, local politics, culture, as well as the more operative sectors like communications), each of which has one supervisor and multiple people working in them. Sometimes, if such thing is made possible by circumstances, the Embassy will recruit special ambassadors for one or more of the sectors, and that is exactly what happened for Princess Marie. She will undoubtedly be a big asset in favour of Danish culture promotion in France and around Europe.
