State Visit from South Korea to Denmark; May 11th-12th, 2011
 

May 11, The Queen will host a dinner for the South Korean President in the presence of Prince Henrik & the Crown Prince couple.

Kongehuset

I guess we can expect to see Mary twice today.

The first time when the Korean President is recieved at the airport and the second time tonight at the gala dinner. - So a tiara event is coming up.

We will however not see Mary at the return dinner tomorrow. There we will contend ourselves with feasting our eyes on our Marie and the perfect gentleman she is married to, Joachim.

Beforehand the speeches at the galadinner were always aired live on DR1, which is a public service channel. That is unfortunately no longer done. A pity I think. It's common curtesy to show towards a visiting head of state and surely half an hour about twice a year is acceptable?
I mean, it's not like DR1 is full of see-worthy programmes, good grief! :whistling:
- Except on Wednesdays, when they show one of my absolute favourite programmes: Bonderøven = best translated to The Redneck, it's also known abroad as The Farmer. One of the extremely few reality shows worth watching. So I think I'll survive not seeing the gala dinner tonight. ;)

Anyway, keep an eye on the news. I don't know if TV2 NEWS will show the guests arriving and the speeches live, but they have before.
But as there are some very interesting political negotiations going on right now, I doubt will see more than a few glimses.

Two articles on the visit

Pres. Lee to Make State Visit to Denmark on Wednesday
Read here

President Lee Visiting European Nations for Green Growth Cooperation
Read here

Tonight the Crown Princely couple will participate in the gala at Fredensborg Castle regarding the State visit from South Korea.

DR will transmit the event at 10pm Danish time.

Video

No Princess Mary at the arrival

Princesses Marie and Benedikte were present at the arrival. Will they also take part in tonights banquett?

That is more than likely.

Thank to Danish Royalist for pointing out that DR1 will show clips from gala tonight. :flowers:
There was no such mentioning (again!!) in the TV-guide I have.

The visit is expected to result in very increased export from DK to Korea. Not least since Korea and EU have agreed on a free trade agreement, which is to be in effect from the 1. June. - So the visit couldn't have been better timed.
So far Korea is the third largest export market for Danish products in East Asia.

Photos from the arrival

BelgaPicture - Category details

Tons of pictures from the arrival via BB
see here

In the video dazzling provided, It looked like the South Korean President didn't greet Princess Marie. Did he pass her and greet Princess Benedikte?

No, he did greet Princess Marie but there was a man in front of her, and at that moment they apparantly edited the video. At least that what it looked like IMO


You're quite welcome Muhler. I knew that since that there was gonna be a State Visit, then there also would be a gala dinner at Fredensborg which DR1 would show highlights from. Like they've always have if memory serves me correct :D

:smile:

Is it unusual for korean wives to take on the husband´s surname or is it similar to europe, to decide if you wanna keep your name or take on the one from your partner?!

What time will the gala dinner start? 20.00 pm?

Yes, I believe the gala dinner started at 8pm :smile:

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Crown Prince Frederik attends the signing of a cooperation agreement between Integration Minister Soeren Pind and of the Institute director Myung Lee (R) at the official opening of the Korean Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) at Risoe National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark. May 11, 2011

BelgaPicture - Category details

First photos from the gala dinner

Pic 1 ** Pic 2

Okay, I watched the summary from the gala dinner.

179 guests. The government was there as is usual at a state visit and some of the really heavy weights from Danish commerce and industry, emphasizing and also putting the final seal on a number of lucrative contracts with their Korean counterparts.

It was an example of how it should be done, when covering a royal event. The commentators said a few details about the various guests, when they were on camera.

The entire Korean delegation is billeted at Fredensborg. The Korean President has his guestroom next to QMII's bedroom, and the Korean first lady, next to PH's bedroom.

The most important guests were as always seated at the main table, but in contrast to all the other tables, people were not seated ladies next to a gentleman, but more according to what was practical, I.e. the Danish PM next to the Korean Minister of Economy, with members of the DRF scattered inbetween. This is after all also a business dinner.

QMII wore a pink dress, and a brooch which stems back from Catherina the Great.
The Korean first lady wore, what looks to me to be a national constume.
Mary, seated next to Joachim, wore a dark blueish dress, with see-through sleeves. I think you'll find her hairstyle interesting. It looked good on her, we thought.
Our Marie wore a white dress. - And rested her elbows on the table, which one does not do, but being la belle Marie and doing so most gracefully, she shall be forgiven. ;)

The speeches are now delivered before the dinner starts. Beforehand, they were delivered between courses.
Frederik must have been hungry, because when he sat down, next to the PM, he started out by munching down a piece of bread.

Mary and Frederik will go to Korea next year on an official visit. (Presumably a follow-up on the business deals and contacts which has been established. That helps Danish commerce, by adding a bit more glamour to what would otherwise be a business conference).

I noticed that the guards on post, were in gala uniforms. But the patrolling sentries wore the standard blue uniform, with the tent hat and the rifles shouldered in a sling.
Gala uniforms or not, the soldiers are issued live rounds and perform standard military guard duty. It's not just ceremonial.

Did you notice that she didn´t knew where she was to be seated? It looked like she thought she should sit next to CP Frederik, on the seat where the korean first lady was to be seated :whistling::whistling::whistling:

My mother and I talked about that he didn´t ate enough from dinner with the children :lol::lol::lol:

When QMII said that, the camera focused on CP Frederik and he looked like he was surprised by that fact by raising his eyebrows - or he was saying "yes" in greenlandic :lol::lol::lol:

Thanks for your summary, Muhler! I would like to add some tiara details:
The Queen wore the rarely seen and rather small turquoise bandeau. La belle Marie of course wore floral diamond tiara and looked gorgeous. Princess Benedikte wore her star and pearl spike tiara, which she inherited from her mother Queen Ingrid. And Princess Mary surprised by adding pearls to her diamond tiara.
Here's a screen shot I saved. http://inlinethumb02.webshots.com/44...600x600Q85.jpg
I somehow managed to delete all the other screen shots I made.:sad: :bang::bang::bang: