Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary start official visit to France

Today, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary started their official visit to France where they’ll lead a business delegation under the theme “Denmark and France – together for a better life and a sustainable future”. Energy, sustainable cities and health are the themes of the business promotion, which will focus on elderly care, “smart hospitals” and “life science” as well as wind energy, district heating, and urban development. In addition, the visit will deal with the Danish lifestyle and culture. 

The day started with an event officially launching the business promotion visit at La Grande Arche. The official business visit is scheduled today and Tuesday, but the Crown Prince Couple will stay an extra day to make additional visits. During his speech made in French, Crown Prince Frederik paid tribute to the four policemen that were killed during an attack in Paris last week. Following the official launch, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary met the Danish companies taking part in the visit.

Crown Prince Frederik started his solo agenda by visiting the electricity producer EDF Group and the district heating producer Dalkia’s showroom which is owned by EDF Group and is one of France’s main suppliers of district heating. Afterwards, he visited an architectural conference for the 30th anniversary of La Grande Arche. La Grande Arche was designed by a Danish architect, Johan Otto von Spreckelsen and a Danish engineer Erik Reitzel. It was completed in 1985 and inaugurated in July 1989. Participants in the conference include representatives from BIG – Bjarne Ingels Group, Henning Larsen and SLA.

Crown Princess Mary visited the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital where she learned more about the research centre of the hospital through the work of cardiologist Jean-Sébastien Hulot. In the evening, the couple will attend a reception for the 30th anniversary of La Grande Arche before attending a dinner at the Elysée Palace with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron.