The Royal Family of Denmark.

Pictures: Palace at Copenhagen; the Danish Royal Crown; Queen Margrethe II of Denmark; Prince Consort Prince Henrik; Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Mary Elizabeth in the next three pictures; young royals with their parents. Last picture, world famous "Mermaid" in Copenhagen harbour.






















Denmark, with its mainland, a peninsula, pointing north from the north western German border, and several islands, mainly east of the mainland, is a flat country south of Norway and Sweden, covering an area of 43,098 sq klms, Copenhagen the capital.

Denmark has one of the highest standards of living in Europe, its free market economy doing very well for several decades, and boasts being a well organised welfare state. The 2008 Global Peace Index survey ranks Denmark as the second most peaceful country in the world, after Iceland!

Denmark shares with Norway and Sweden the Viking heritage and the three countries form the region of Scandinavia.

The Danish Monarch Schleswig-Holstein Christian IX was known as the grandfather of Europe, his children and grandchildren sat on several thrones of Europe, his son William George on the Greek throne, his daughter Alexandra "Alix married to King Edward VII of Great Britain, another daughter, Marie Dagmar, was the Russian Tzarina, his grandson Charles Haakon was crowned King of Norway.

Queen Margrethe II, born in April 1940, ascended the Danish throne in January 1972, has an extensive education in Universities in Denmark and other European countries. After having passed the examination in philosophy at Copenhagen University in 1960, the Queen studied archaeology in the period 1960-1961 (Diploma in Prehistoric Archaeology) at University of Cambridge. The Queen, subsequently, studied political science at Aarhus University in the period 1961-1962, at the Sorbonne in 1963 and at the London School of Economics in 1965.

The Queen performed voluntary service with Women’s Flying Corps in the years 1958-1970, and received comprehensive training in the corps during this period.

The Queen is the supreme commander of the Danish Defence Forces, and has a special connection to particular units of the British Defence. In 1972, Her Majesty was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Regiment, and in 1992 was appointed Colonel-!in-Chief of The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment!

The Queen is an accomplished artist, with her works represented at the following art museums: Statens Museum for Kunst (the Danish National Gallery), Aarhus Art Museum, ARoS, and Køge Art Gallery Sketch Collection for church designs and has her works exhibited at various art galleries across the world! She is an accomplished costume designer, designing for stage plays, TV presentations, ballets, and book illustrations for J.R.R. Tolkien: “The Lord of The Rings” published in Danish in 1977 and 2002; “The Lord of the Rings” was reissued with her illustrations in 2002!

Henrik, His Royal Highness The Prince Consort, was born Henri Marie Jean André Count de Laborde de Monpezat. The Prince Consort was born in 1934 in Talence, Gironde, France.

The Prince Consort studied law and political science at the Sorbonne, Paris while simultaneously studying Chinese and Vietnamese at École Nationale des Langues Orientales. Having studied Oriental languages in Hong Kong in 1957, Prince Henrik subsequently studied in Saigon in 1958, and performed his military service with the infantry in Algeria in the period 1959-1962. His Royal Highness holds the honorary rank of General and Admiral in the Danish Defence. The Prince operates the wine estate Château de Caïx in Cahors in France. Wine from the estate is exported throughout the world!

Crown Prince Frederick has a Masters in Political Science from the University of Aarhus. In connection with these studies, he spent a year studying political science at Harvard University, USA from 1992 to 1993......... served at the Danish UN Mission in New York in 1994, and was posted to the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris as First Secretary of Embassy from October 1998 to October 1999. Crown Prince Frederik remains active in the defence services, and in the period 2002-2003 served as a staff officer at Defence Command Denmark, and from 2003 as a senior lecturer with the Institute of Strategy at the Royal Danish Defence College.

The Crown Prince participated in an expedition to Mongolia in 1986. In 2000, he participated in "Expedition Sirius 2000", which was a four-month and 2,795 km dog-sledge expedition in the northern part of Greenland.

Crown Princess HRH Mary Elizabeth enrolled at the University of Tasmania in 1989 and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in Commerce and Law (B Com. LLB).

Between 1994 and 1996 Crown Princess Mary qualified for a Certificate in Advertising from The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA), and later a Certificate in Direct Marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing Association.

After completion of her university degree, The Crown Princess moved to Melbourne to take a graduate position with the worldwide advertising agency DDB Needham. After completion of the graduate programme she held the position of Account Executive for client management.

Crown Princess Mary’s career path continued with a position as Account Manager with MOJO Partners, also in Melbourne.

She married Prince Frederick in May 2004.

The House of Denmark is descended from the Dukes of Holstien-Gottorp who belong to the House of Oldenburg.north Germany. This link provides some amazing information that this is a senior German line of Dukes that also gave Russia their Romanov Tzar Peter III and his descendants; Peter's father was Duke Karl Frederick of Holstien Gottorp of the Oldenburg line (Peter III was legitimate heir to the Russian throne as his mother was Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia......Peter III's wife was the future Catharine the Great(!!!) who was also a German princess, daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, of another German ducal line, her mother Joanna Elizabeth, daughter of Prince August Christian of Schleswig Holstien Gottorp...........all in the family!!!)

Similar to all constitutional monarchies, the Monarch, is Head of State, a symbol of the country, representing the country's aspirations and traditions, the first person, in most cases as per a written Constitution, representing the country's freedom and democratic values, its continuity and political, social, cultural and other aspirations; although seen a figurehead, this is only partly true, there is a two way communication between the Monarch and his people.
The enlightened Monarch sets the example of a national identity of the country, and its dignity as a sovereign nation.