Her Majesty Queen Margrethe will visit Iceland’s capital of Reykjavík on Saturday, 1 December 2018. During her stay, she will experience a tight schedule. Her Majesty is touring the country to mark the 100th anniversary of Iceland’s sovereignty.
Upon arrival, the Queen is to visit the concert and opera house, Harpa and will be received by Iceland’s President and First Lady Eliza Jean Reid. During the visit, the Queen will be shown an exhibition by designer Hörður Lárusson about the history of the creation of the Icelandic flag. The Queen will then participates in a luncheon at Harpa.
Following the visit at Harpa, the visit is to continue to the government building at Lækjargata. Here, the effectuation of the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union was proclaimed on 1 December 1918. The Queen will then visit Iceland’s national gallery, Listasafn Íslands, and is shown the exhibition “Blossoming”, which tells about the creation and development of Iceland as an independent nation.
In the afternoon, the Queen will visit the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages, which is a research centre at the University of Iceland. In the evening, Her Majesty will participate in a dinner hosted by Iceland’s President at Bessastaðir, which is the President’s residence. The visit will be concluded when the Queen takes part in and speaks at a gala performance in the concert and opera house, Harpa.
The last time Queen Margrethe visited Iceland was in 2013 in connection with the 350th anniversary of the birth of scholar and manuscript collector, Árni Magnússon. In October of this year, Iceland’s President visited Denmark. One of the Queen’s names, Þórhildur, is also evidence of Margrethe’s personal connection with the country, which, in 1940, the year of Her Majesty’s birth, still had a personal union with Denmark and with the Danish king as head of state for both countries.
On 1 December 1918, the Danish-Icelandic Federal Law of 1918 entered into force. Here, Iceland was recognised as a sovereign state. For the next 25 years, Denmark and Iceland were in a federation, and Denmark controlled among other things, Iceland’s foreign policy. In 1944, Iceland declared itself a republic, and then gained full independence.