Queen Margrethe of Denmark has recently been on a visit to the Faroe Islands. It was expected and planned that the Queen would then travel on for a visit to Greenland. However, on Tuesday, it was announced that the visit was postponed.
Within the past week, Greenland has been affected by several outbreaks of COVID-19, which has necessitated the introduction of a number of restrictions in relation to travel and assemblies in Greenland. As a result of the corona situation, only people who have received at least one vaccine jab may use public transport in Greenland. There are 29 active cases in Greenland – the highest infection rate in Greenland during the pandemic. There are 56,000 people living on the island.
The chairman of the Greenlandic parliament has, with reference to this, requested that Her Majesty’s official visit to Greenland be postponed. The visit should have taken place from 24 July to 5 August. The Royal Court issued a statement saying that the Queen has expressed understanding of the necessity to postpone the visit to Greenland but looks forward to it being carried out at a later date.
Queen Margrethe has been on an official visit to the Faroe Islands before she returned to Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on Monday. She arrived via air to the Faroe Islands because the royal yacht Dannebrog, which she was supposed to have travelled on, had engine problems. It was clear in advance that the ship would not be ready to sail the Queen to Greenland either.
Queen Margrethe was supposed to start the Greenlandic trip in East Greenland with a visit to Tasiilaq. Then, from East Greenland, the Queen would have continued the trip to North Greenland with visits to Station Nord, Pituffik and Qaanaaq. Finally, Queen Margrethe was set to be on board the Dannebrog in Nuuk from 1 August to 5 August. There, the Queen would have sailed in West Greenland with visits to Ilulissat, Nuuk, Qaqortoq and Narsaq.
