Danish Royal Family Christmas: 2003, 2004, 2006-2014, 2016-2023


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Lovely photos from Christmas Day. Interesting that the children didn't go though they were probably more interested in opening and playing with their new presents!
 
Since Aarhus Cathedral (Aarhus Domkirke in DK) has such a prominent role for the DRF during Christmas I thought we should have a closer look at it.

The current church was first build between 1190-1300. And it was extensively rebuilt in 1420-1480. And as such became the largest and most important church in Aarhus. In fact it's the largest church in DK, being 93 meters long and 98 meters tall.
In fact even though it's only known as Aarhus Domkirke, it's real name is Sct. Clemens Kirke.

The church is flanked to two sides by a square.
As is evident from the exterior of the cathedral:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Aarhus_domkirke.jpg
https://www.arkmedic.dk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/domkirke.jpg
https://www.cabinn.com/sites/default/files/DSC_8330_0.jpg
This such an amazing photo! Prior to at least the mid 1800s the tower would vanish up into the dark sky at night. Or stand silhouetted imposingly against the night clouds.
https://scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagra...392_324887774681112_8955144809459220480_n.jpg
https://aarhusdomkirke.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Udsigt-fra-teatret.jpg

Fortunately the cathedral has not been dwarfed by the building of nearby tall buildings.
In fact the church is to this day a prominent feature, when you approach Aarhus from the sea:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Havne_udsigt_fra_dokken-CN.jpg

Here is the entrance to the cathedral and this is where the DRF are photographed at Christmas.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Indgang.jpg

Going inside:
https://i1.wp.com/aarhuspanorama.dk...rama11-e1453119254146.jpg?fit=1601,1067&ssl=1
1.200 worshipers can be seated there.
https://i0.wp.com/aarhuspanorama.dk...domkirke_aarhus_panorama4.jpg?resize=1200,800

A closer look at the church ship:
https://i1.wp.com/aarhuspanorama.dk...domkirke_aarhus_panorama5.jpg?resize=1200,800
Judging from the style, this is a ship of the line from around the mid 1700s.

The alter is the largest in DK and it's the original from the 1470's:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/352/19540510054_677d88743f_b.jpg

Apart from that the church is full of details. It did after all start out as a Catholic cathedral:
http://skjultesteder.dk/images/informationsidebilleder/87/_thumb3/dscf8559.jpg

Including the Danish coat of arms, placed in front of one of the three organs:
https://www.orgelselskabet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Århus-Domkirke-Frobenius.jpg

For the first few hundred years the mass was conducted in Latin, which few of the worshipers understood, so in typical fashion, the church made sure there were "comics" on the walls to hammer home what it was all about to the congregation.
This illustrates the world. Heaven, Earth and Hell:
http://aarhusdomkirke.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Allesjælesbillede.jpg
Judging from the clothes and fashion I'll say this is from the 1400s.

The pulpit is from 1588:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/AarhusDom-03-1.jpg

The baptismal font is from 1481.
https://aarhusdomkirke.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Døbefont-PR.jpg

The floorplan:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Cathedral_of_Århus_floorplan_1879.JPG

- No wonder QMII likes to go there, eh?
Plenty to look at should the sermon become a little eh... tiresome.
 
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Great photos and info thanks Muhler. I never expected the Kirke to be so large. A gorgeous church with a lot of history.
 
Muhler, thank you for the information and all the wonderful links. What an amazing building and fascinating history. The thing that is striking to me is how massive that central tower is, and how it completely dominates everything around it. It's as though the builders were saying "This is God's house, and you better not forget it."
 
Muhler, thank you for the information and all the wonderful links. What an amazing building and fascinating history. The thing that is striking to me is how massive that central tower is, and how it completely dominates everything around it. It's as though the builders were saying "This is God's house, and you better not forget it."

I'm in no doubt that was exactly the intention!
Very much in contrast to the nearby earlier, smaller and I dare say more feminine cathedral Vor Frue Kirke (The Church of Our Lady).
https://mapio.net/images-p/12113804.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Vor_Frue_Kirke_(Aarhus)_02.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg

This church, which QMII is very familiar with vis a vis her keen interest in archeology, was completed in its present form around 1250. But it's actually much older. In the basement is the oldest surviving stone-church in Scandinavia, from 1060.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Vor_Frue_Kirke_Århus_kryptkirken.jpg
From the days when Aarhus was young, only a couple of hundred years.

The church, named Sankt Nikolai Kirke, (but only known as Vor Frue Kirke = The Church of Our Lady) was the first cathedral in Aarhus, until the present one took over in the 1200s.

Later on in 1227, the church was a part of a Dominican abbey.
They eventually left after the Reformation in 1536.
In DK cloisters and abbeys were not torn down or subjected to plunder like in other countries. (There were after all way too many unmarried sons and daughters of those in power living in these places for that to be acceptable.)
So while a number of cloisters and abbeys were shut down or amalgamated, those monks and nuns who chose to remain in Denmark and chose to remain Catholic were allowed to stay until they died. The last one dying a few decades later.
A very civilized religious revolution I think.

Today most of the abbey is gone, but the church remains.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Klosterkirken_ved_Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/27937770911_fcf07e7e17_b.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Prædikestol_Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XwoFbaKNms/Ue7L9Fvjf0I/AAAAAAAABgE/RaQcSKh2TZc/s1600/0723+Kirke+5.jpg
The church ship looks to me like a model of the school ship Danmark. A contemporary with the royal yacht Dannebrog (they were build at the same yard) she is still around:
https://images.amtsavisen.dk/64/295664_1200_0_22_0_3204_2003_2.jpg
Presumably the model was made and donated by a former crew member. Of which there have been many thousands, a couple of thousands of which were Americans training for the US Coast Guard during WWII.
 
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BTW Congratulations, JR76. I see you have rounded your first 2.000 posts. :flowers:
Thanks for noticing! :) I had no idea myself since things like that don't show on the mobile app.
 
Thank you Muhler for the interesting detail. A beautiful church, but quite plain in comparison to our churches here in England (though most lutheran churches are plainer in decoration).
 
Thank you Muhler for the interesting detail. A beautiful church, but quite plain in comparison to our churches here in England (though most lutheran churches are plainer in decoration).

From what I gather, Lutheran churches in Scandinavia are not as plain as those in Germany etc In fact, some are quiet elaborate.
 
I'm in no doubt that was exactly the intention!
Very much in contrast to the nearby earlier, smaller and I dare say more feminine cathedral Vor Frue Kirke (The Church of Our Lady).
https://mapio.net/images-p/12113804.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Vor_Frue_Kirke_(Aarhus)_02.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg

This church, which QMII is very familiar with vis a vis her keen interest in archeology, was completed in its present form around 1250. But it's actually much older. In the basement is the oldest surviving stone-church in Scandinavia, from 1060.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Vor_Frue_Kirke_Århus_kryptkirken.jpg
From the days when Aarhus was young, only a couple of hundred years.

The church, named Sankt Nikolai Kirke, (but only known as Vor Frue Kirke = The Church of Our Lady) was the first cathedral in Aarhus, until the present one took over in the 1200s.

Later on in 1227, the church was a part of a Dominican abbey.
They eventually left after the Reformation in 1536.
In DK cloisters and abbeys were not torn down or subjected to plunder like in other countries. (There were after all way too many unmarried sons and daughters of those in power living in these places for that to be acceptable.)
So while a number of cloisters and abbeys were shut down or amalgamated, those monks and nuns who chose to remain in Denmark and chose to remain Catholic were allowed to stay until they died. The last one dying a few decades later.
A very civilized religious revolution I think.

Today most of the abbey is gone, but the church remains.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Klosterkirken_ved_Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/27937770911_fcf07e7e17_b.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Prædikestol_Vor_Frue_Kirke_Aarhus.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XwoFbaKNms/Ue7L9Fvjf0I/AAAAAAAABgE/RaQcSKh2TZc/s1600/0723+Kirke+5.jpg
The church ship looks to me like a model of the school ship Danmark. A contemporary with the royal yacht Dannebrog (they were build at the same yard) she is still around:
https://images.amtsavisen.dk/64/295664_1200_0_22_0_3204_2003_2.jpg
Presumably the model was made and donated by a former crew member. Of which there have been many thousands, a couple of thousands of which were Americans training for the US Coast Guard during WWII.

Dear Muhler, I add my thanks to the many already offered for your thoughtful insights on Danish churches. I am curious however about the 'church ship'. No doubt you have explained this before, but is the 'church ship' a standard item in Danish churches? :flowers:
 
Dear Muhler, I add my thanks to the many already offered for your thoughtful insights on Danish churches. I am curious however about the 'church ship'. No doubt you have explained this before, but is the 'church ship' a standard item in Danish churches? :flowers:

You are most welcome. ?

Pretty much! About half of the some 1.200 Danish churches have one or several church ships.
Such ships are always donated to the church, it's never acquired.

The thing about church ships is known all over Europe in places that is connected to the sea from the 1400s, but in DK it's known with certainty from the 1500s. - But while known elsewhere in Europe, there is no other country where church ships are so common as in DK.
There are also quite a few church ships in present day northern Germany, and as most of them fly Dannebrog this is a Danish custom that has been maintained there.

The church ship is hand made and donated to a church by a someone who has gone through and survived a serious crisis. be that a shipwreck or an illness. It's a kind of offering to God and the church.

The main structure of any church in DK, from the entrance to the alter is in DK also called a church ship, and keep in mind that ships were often used for burial in th Viking age and for thousands of years before that, so ships, at least in DK, is closely linked to faith - apparently regardless of the religion.

There are various theories to what these ships symbolize.
It may be an indirect talisman for the locals so to speak. I.e. the church ships would help protect their relatives on sea.
It may likely be a symbol of life. I.e. with Christ at the helm the congregation will steer safely through life.
Or the journey from Earth to Heaven.
For port towns ships were a source of pride, so it may be only natural to also have church ships in the local churches.
It may simply be that Danish seamen saw church ships in Catholic countries and brought the custom with them home, where it developed a symbolic meaning that may differ from the original meaning.

- I think the truth is a mix of all of the above, and more. It depends on your view I guess.
So the symbolism you (or anyone else) see in a church ship, is IMO just as good as any other.

Here are some more church ships:
This is believed to be the oldest church ship in the world. It's from Rotterdam and dates from the 1400s:
http://kirkeskibet.dk/Eendigitalekspedition_files/image004.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Holmens_Kirke_Copenhagen_ship1.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Kastelskirken_Copenhagen_ship.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/De_Gamles_Bys_Kirke_Copenhagen_ship.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Helligåndskirken_Hvide_Sande_7_Kirkeskib_b.JPG
https://www.thas.dk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013-1386-Besser-Kirke.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Davidskirken_Copenhagen_ship.jpg
And this is positively wonderful!
http://denstoredanske.dk/@api/deki/files/15044/=24188484.jpg

Presenting a new ship:
http://maarsletegnsarkiv.dk/2_maarslet_kirke_kirkeskib_1987.jpg
They are fortunately still made.
https://www.kristendom.dk/sites/default/files/styles/main-wide-944/public/2011/05/288284.jpg
 
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BB has finally caught up with the DRF events around Christmas.

Summary of article in Billed Bladet #01, 2019.
Written by Ken Richter.

In contrast to the other BB reporters Ken Richter writes about what he observes himself or is told himself and keep speculation and the sugary fill to a minimum.
So you can rely on that what he writes is what he has seen himself. (*)
Here covering the Christmas services on the 24th 25th and 26th.

The DRF arrived en masse in the afternoon on the 24th to Aarhus Cathedral where the 1.200 seat were all occupied. Except for a small screened off area near the baptismal font, reserved for the DRF.
That area consisted of three rows of chairs.
QMII sat in the middle in the front row with the smallest of her grandchildren. Henrik, Vincent, Athena and Josephine flanking to both sides.
On the second row sat Christian, Frederik, Mary, our Marie, Nikolai and Isabella.
On the third row sat Joachim with Felix.

During the service Vincent was observed making a spyglass from the booklet with psalms. There was a good deal of cheerful chatting between the children and their parents and farmor Margrethe.
Margrethe and Mary sang along to the psalms.

The DRF arrived as the last and left as the first. (**) On both occasions the congregation stood up as a sign of respect.

Felix and Henrik were seen arriving in the same car as their farmor. The rest of the family presumably arrived in the van.

On the 25th the adults of the DRF arrived for the high-mass. (Not sure how to translate the correctly. But it's a long service.) Which may be why the children were left behind.
On this occasion it was royal confessionarius, Henrik Wigh-Poulsen, who was in charge of the mass.
Just as PH always did, Frederik as the only one left before communion.

On the 26th QMII was the only one to attend service.

(*) However, it happens he gets distracted. I clearly remember him using half an article to write about a vintage car. :D
I'm not sure that was of particular interest to the majority of regular readers of BB.

(**) Just like in the navy. The highest ranking enter the boat as the last, but leave the boat as the first.

- This weeks scans will eventually be posted in the general DRF thread along with an account of how QMII celebrated her New Years Eve.
 
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that is great to hear!
official announcement
Den kongelige families jul 2019 | Kongehuset

This year, Marselisborg Castle is once again setting the frame for the royal family's Christmas. The Queen will stay at the castle on December 20 and celebrate the holidays with the Crown Prince family as well as Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with children.
 
:previous:

The Palace updated their press release about Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix

"Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, spend Christmas with their mother, H.E. Alexandra Countess of Frederiksborg."

And this year from today until Christmas Eve we have the Christmas Stories from the Danish Palace.


https://www.instagram.com/p/B5coyjNA2St/
 
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According to the magazine edition of Billed Bladet this week and this is confirmed by Alexandra's secretary and by Benedikte herself:

Alexandra will celebrate Christmas in DK with her two sons.

Benedikte will celebrate Christmas at Egeskov Castle with her daughter and new son-in-law, Michael Ahlefeldt.
 
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:previous: Nice to hear that Nikolai and Felix will be spending Christmas with Alexandra.
 
Ah, it's the story about the secret stairs at Christian VII's mansion at Amalienborg.
Here servants could unseen move from the kitchen in the basement to the dining room, seen behind the glass.
And here a small orchestra could play - unseen - for the dining guests.
 
Him..I wonder if the figure is ever going to travel to naked statue of the Wueen and her late Husband ;)?
 
Christmas Storie today we see the 61-year-old Rolls-Royce, who is the flagship of the Royal House cars and goes by the name of Big Krone.


https://www.instagram.com/p/B5pJ34Kgnna/

The Christmas Storie today 5 December we see Queen's workshop, classic carpentry crafts are kept alive and developed in a converted horse stable behind Christian VIII's Mansion in Amalienborg.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5rl_Qtg15W/
 
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Indeed. It's among other things at this workshop that most of the antique furnitures of the DRF are repaired or maintained.
It must be a dream for any craftsman to work at such a place. Imagine being not only allowed but required to do your very best at work every day.
No insane deadlines, no cutting corners because of the budget.
 
Today, December 6, a pavilion behind Christian VII's Mansion in Amalienborg is in the centre of attention:


** Calendar post **
 
Looking for his parents and sister it seems.
And he is setting a course for "a palace located in the middle of a star."

My guess is Fredensborg.
With its elaborate garden features and buildings that IMO is the best candidate.

But you try find some air-photos of the royal palaces here in DK and make a a guess yourselves. ;)

Rosenborg and Frederiksborg could be candidates too. I don't know how the garden features are at these places.

ADDED: I see from the comments that the locals point to Eremitage Slottet.
 
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It was. ?

And our nisse did find his sister. Sitting in the most grand room of the small palace, she was singing: When You Wish Upon a star.

Now they are going to find their parents.

- And a little guess. Our nisse-family will reunite on the 24th at Marselisborg. ;)

Just in case you don't recognize the song:
 
That's an interesting place to spend the night! But of course they are nisser, and who knows what such creatures prefer!

The nisse-boy and the nisse-girl are sleeping at the stove-depot at Fredensborg.
When the palace switched to central heating the multitude of stoves in the multitude of rooms in the place became redundant, so they are stored at a depot now.
They should excite an stove-fancier or two out there though! As the stoves are all from the 1700 and 1800's.

- It looks like the author of today's little story has forgotten that stoves are called "kakkelovne" in Danish. :ermm:
 
I really love all this. It is a sweet tradition and shows a warm heart. Thanks to all who contributed.
 
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