The Danish Royal Household has announced new dates for celebrations of Queen Margrethe’s golden jubilee around the country.
Many of the leading public events surrounding the anniversary were postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions and were delayed to September. Now that said restrictions have been lifting all around the globe, the Royal House has announced the revised calendar.
On 21 May, the Royal Family will travel to Tivoli, where the city has organised a series of activities to celebrate the occasion, including in the city’s park and a ballet gala in the evening that will see the participation of dancers from the Hamburg Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London, the Paris Opera, the New York City Ballet and many others. In addition, Her Majesty will make a series of stops in the town’s most iconic landmarks, including the Pantomime Theatre. She will also plant a jubilee tree.
On 3 and 4 June, the first sailing of the Dannebrog will conclude with a visit to the municipality of Aarhus, northwest of Copenhagen.
Celebrations will also include a touching tribute to the Queen’s late husband, Prince Henrik. During the summer months, the city of Cahors, where the Danish royals’ property of Château de Cayx is located, will open two exhibitions that focus on Queen Margrethe’s artistic work. At the Henri-Martin Museum, the exhibition “Margrethe II of Denmark: Artist-Queen” will showcase a total of 70 of Her Majesty’s works, including paintings and découpage pieces. At the Médiathèque du Grand Cahors (Cahors’s library), the Queen’s illustrations of the Lord of the Rings trilogy will be on display.
September will be the month for the three landmark events that will presumably conclude the Golden Jubilee celebrations in Denmark.
On the 10th, Her Majesty will make an appearance at the guard change and, together with the rest of her family, on the Amalienborg Palace balcony, before taking a carriage ride to Copenhagen City Hall. In the evening, she will also ride a carriage to the Royal Danish Theatre’s Old Stage, where DR will broadcast the command performance offered for the anniversary.
On the 11th, the day will begin with a church service at Copenhagen Cathedral, before Her Majesty hosts a luncheon on the Dannebrog. In the evening, Christiansborg Palace will be the backdrop for a gala for members of the Royal Family, foreign guests and representatives of “official Denmark.” This is the best chance the public will have of foreign royals being present for the celebrations, with the Greek royals being almost certain attendees as Queen Anne-Marie of Greece is Margrethe’s sister.
The 23 September is the last date on the calendar released by the Royal House, and Queen Margrethe will be hosting a dinner in the Great Hall of Christiansborg Palace for members of the Danish Parliament and the Danish delegation at the European Parliament.
This is the first time in almost three years that any European court has released plans so far into the future, a sign of both the easing of the restrictions and the solid hope represented by vaccines, but also of the crucial importance that a Golden Jubilee has in the Danish society, especially when it celebrates such a beloved figure as Queen Margrethe is by her own people.
