Royal Danish Magazine, January 14, 2022 Copenhagen News (Reporters: Peng Zhongmin, Zhu Xiaojun)
On 14 January 1972, King Frederick IX of Denmark died and Queen Margaret II of Denmark succeeded her father to the throne. For half a century, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has been head of state of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Queen, who reigned for fifty years, was the second-longest-reigning monarch in Danish history, after Christian IV (who reigned for sixty years).
Born on 16 April 1940 in Amalienborg, Margaret II was the daughter of Frederick IX (died in 1972) and Princess Ingrid of Sweden (died in 2000). Queen Margrethe II was known for her wide range of interests. The Queen has a keen interest in archaeology, and after passing the Philosophy Examination at the University of Copenhagen in 1960, she studied archaeology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom from 1960 to 1961 and obtained a diploma in prehistoric archaeology. The Queen has been involved in numerous archaeological excavations at home and abroad, and in the late 1950s, as a young princess, the Queen spent an archaeological excavation holiday in Italy with her grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden. Together, the king and the princess became interested in archaeology. Queen Margaret is also a versatile artist, specialising in costume design, scenography, illustration, church textiles, paper cuts, embroidery and paintings, and many of her artworks have been exhibited in exhibitions in Denmark and abroad.
The Queen has been part of the artistic team behind the Tivoli Ballet performance at least eight times, and in 2021, the Queen designed costumes and sets for the Snow Queen at Tivoli, which was designed by Queen Margaret of Denmark. The Queen's artworks are exhibited at the Statens Museum for Kunst, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum and the K ge ArtGallery Sketch Collection.
When Queen Margaret was a princess, she created exquisite illustrations for Tolkien's best-selling book The Lord of the Rings while studying in the UK. Princess Margaret used the pseudonym "Ingahild Grathmer" and sent illustrations of the scenes in her book to Tolkien in the early 1970s. Tolkien usually did not want artists to paint illustrations for his work, as he encouraged readers to create their own picture of the story in their minds. However, when Tolkien died in 1973, several black-and-white drawings with words of praise were found. This is a painting of "Ingahild Grathmer". Tolkien was fascinated by the mysterious design, which did not depict any of the characters. The Lord of the Rings with queen illustrations was first published in 1977 and then republished in 2001 and 2021. The Queen's native language is Danish. In addition, the Queen speaks French, Swedish, English and German.
Since the death of King Frederick IX in 1972, Queen Margaret has continued the tradition of cruising the Royal Ship Denibulo every summer, visiting Denmark's cities and villages and traveling through the landscapes and waters of the Kingdom of Denmark, including the remote Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Queen completed a total of 48 Denibulo voyages, 44 of which were completed with Prince Henrik. This made the relationship between the royal family and the people more intimate.
Denmark has a constitutional monarchy, which means that the monarch cannot independently carry out political acts. For example, although the Queen has signed all Acts of Parliament, they will only enter into force after being countersigned by a Cabinet Minister. The Queen's participation is therefore a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for the validity of the law.
Denmark had 9 prime ministers and 24 governments during the Queen's reign. The first was Jens Otto Craig, who proclaimed himself Queen in 1972. During her reign, the Queen has so far undertaken 54 foreign and 58 state visits. The first visit was in 1973, when the Queen made her first visit to Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Since then, the Queen has visited a range of places including Ireland, China, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Japan. The Queen visited China twice in 1979 and 2014, further laying the foundation for the rapid development of The Friendship between Danish and Chinese.
Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the Queen has a very special and close relationship with both. The Queen first visited the Faroe Islands in 1959, when the Queen visited the North Atlantic Islands as a young heir to the throne with her parents and sisters. The following year, 1960, she visited Greenland for the first time. The Faroe Islands and Greenland were also a major source of inspiration for the Queen's paintings.
Queen Margaret II and Queen Elizabeth are third-generation cousins – they share the same great-great-grandparents, King Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Louise of Hesse-Kassel. In addition, Queen Margaret II and King Philip of Belgium are also descendants of King Christian IX of Denmark. Denmark and the Greek royal family also have close ties, queen Margaret's sister Princess Anne Marie of Denmark married Constantine II, who served as the last king of Greece between 1964 and 1973. Queen Margaret II also had the closest family ties with Scandinavian monarchs, with King Karl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Queen Denmark as cousins, and King Harald V of Norway as the second cousin of Queen Margaret II.
Queen Margaret II was the first female monarch after Queen Margaret I of Denmark (1376-1412), and there have been only two female monarchs in Danish history.
Some of the events of the Danish Government, the Danish Parliament and the Royal Danish Crown to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne in mid-January 2022 will be held from 10 to 11 September 2022.
Therefore, the anniversary of 14 January 2022 is as follows: Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark and Her Royal Highness the Crown Prince meet at Christiansborg Palace to start the day; Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark, the Crown Prince and his wife, Her Royal Highnesses Joachim and Princess Mary and Her Royal Highness Princess Benedict attend the Danish Parliament to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne; to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Frederick IX, Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark, the Crown Prince and his wife, Prince Joachim and Princess Mary, Her Royal Highness Princess Benedict and Her Royal Highness Queen Anne-Mary held wreath laying ceremonies at rosked cathedral, the cemetery of Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid.
On the kongehuset.dk, a theme page for the 50th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne was set up and information about the Jubilee was constantly updated. Due to the coronavirus situation, Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark will not be able to appear in person at Det Gule Pal in Amalienborg, a tradition of major events for the Danish Royal Family.
Gifts from the Danish government and parliament on the 50th anniversary of the Queen's reign amount to DKK 2,500,000. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne, the Danish Government and Parliament presented Her Majesty with a gift of art in the form of an artwork that will symbolize the link between the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Denmark. The work will take the form of sidewalk decoration in Nordatlantens Brygge, Copenhagen, and the theme of this artwork is the footprints left by the Faroe Islands and Greenland in Copenhagen, and the location means close to Amalienborg. Created by three artists from the Faroe Islands, Hansina Iversen, Jessie Kleemann from Greenland and Gudrun Hasle from Denmark, the artwork is expected to be completed in early 2023.
(Photo: Royal Danish photographer Peng Zhongmin; Editor: Wu Jingfang)