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ROYAL FAMILY

Denmark’s king and queen announce state visits to Sweden and Norway

King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark will visit Sweden followed by Norway on their first official state visits since taking over as regents.

Denmark’s king and queen announce state visits to Sweden and Norway
King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark have announced their first state visits, to Sweden and Norway. Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP

The Danish palace announced the two state visits in a statement on Friday.

“The first state visits will provide the occasion for the new King and Queen to meet with the sovereigns in Sweden and Norway, and they will thus mark the close relations between the Nordic monarchies,” the statement read.

The visit to Sweden is scheduled for the beginning of May, with the Norway visit following after that.

The two state visits will be part of a “a major tour around the Northern region” which will also include visits to Greenland and the Faroe Islands in June and July, the palace said.

Much of the tour will be in the royal yacht, Dannebrog.

“In June, the Royal Yacht Dannebrog will sail north on a cruise of the Realm. The King and The Queen will visit the Faroe Islands in mid-June, and then Greenland in late June and early July,” the palace said.

King Frederik and Queen Mary will be in Sweden from May 6th-7th and Norway from May 14th-15th. The full programme for the visits is yet to be announced.

Sweden recently welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron on a state visit, while Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja last year visited Denmark, when Queen Margrethe II was still regent prior to her abdication last month.

King Frederik recently visited Poland on his first foreign visit since becoming monarch. The trip to Poland was a a trade promotion trip, rather than a state visit, and was planned before Frederik took the throne on the abdication of his mother.

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CULTURE

Queen Margrethe to design set for ballet at Copenhagen Tivoli

Queen Margrethe may have abdicated as Denmark's monarch but she hasn't given up her side job as a set designer, returning to the role for a performance of Hans Christian Andersen's Blockhead Hans this summer.

Queen Margrethe to design set for ballet at Copenhagen Tivoli

A ballet baseed on the popular fairy tale, called Klods-Hans in Danish, will be performed this summer in the Pantomine Theatre at the Tivoli Gardens amusement park, which celebrates its 150th year in 2024. 

“There are so many possibilities in the fairy tale about Blockhead Hans, who is a person you can’t help but like, and that gives us many possibilities on stage,” Margrethe said in the press release issued by Tivoli. 

Queen Margrethe has previously designed the sets for six performances at the Pantomime Theater, including those for “Cinderella”, “The Tinder Box” and “The Swineheard”, all stories by Hans Christian Andersen. 

Margrethe has also helped to create the two critically acclaimed ballets at Tivoli’s Concert Hall, “The Nutcracker” and “The Snow Queen”, where she has created more than 100 costumes and numerous stage images.

“I have tried to make performances for the Pantomime Theater before and have a good feeling for what works well on the small stage. I am looking forward to getting started with that together with the other forces behind the show,” she said. 

Tobias Praetorius, choreographer and soloist at the Royal Ballet, is behind the choreography for the ballet performance. Conductor and TV host Phillip Faber has written the music.

“It has been exciting work to make the orchestra’s sound merge with Andersen’s story, Tobias’ thoughts and choreography and Queen Margrethe’s visual universe,” Faber said in the announcement.

Blockhead Hans will be performed approximately 30 times in Tivoli over the summer, with the premiere on June 22nd.

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