Obama Meets the Danes, Admires Royal Tapestries
An audience with HM the Queen of Denmark. That is how US President Barack Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle, ended their visit to Copenhagen yesterday, October 2nd.
Click to see the Berlingske gallery
The duo first met with Queen Margrethe II and HRH the Prince Consort at Christiansborg Palace, before the President was presented with a guard of honour by the Royal Danish Life Guard. President and First Lady Obama were then introduced to TRH Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. The meeting took place in the Palace’s Banquet Hall, which is home to the ‘Dronningens Gobeliner’, or the Queen’s Tapestries.
The seventeen 300m2 tapestries, created by Bjørn Nørgaard and presented to the Queen as a gift for her 50th birthday, stunned the President, who was greatly impressed by the pieces. Queen Margrethe wasted little time, pointing out various features of the tapestries and explaining their meanings to her guests. The Obamas spent approximately fifteen minutes in the Banquet Hall with the royals, Michelle was seen chatting with the Prince Consort and Princess Mary. View a video of the Obamas’ arrival and inital meeting here.
From there, the President went on to an audience with Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Here, there was a press conference where Obama thanked the royal family and the people of Denmark as a whole. “I would like to thank the Danish Royal Family for their extraordinary hospitality during our visit,” he said. The Prime Minister also thanked President Obama for coming to Copenhagen, saying everyone was delighted by their trip and hoped they would visit again soon, and wished the Chicago 2016 Summer Olympic Games bid well.
Click to see the image at Daylife
Luck was not with the Obamas and the Chicago delegation, which also included Oprah Winfrey, though as they were eliminated in the first round of the voting. Coming down to Madrid and Rio de Janiero, IOC President Jacques Rogge announced that the Brazillian capital would be the first South American city to host an Olympic Games, sending joy and jubilee throughout the Rio delegation and in the city itself.
The 121st IOC Congress continues until October 9th. View the Congress thread here.
TRH the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima have concluded their week-long visit to New York City, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage aboard the Half Moon which discovered the city.
”Who touched who first?”. No, it’s not a transcript from Gary Glitter’s latest trial; it’s the question on everyone’s lips after Her Majesty The Queen and The First Lady of the United States of America enjoyed a little cuddle at Buck House last night. Though being briefed on Royal protocol, the Obamas seemed to prefer their own blend of modern friendliness and traditional etiquette and it obviously got the Royal seal of approval. At one end of the room, guests including Princess Alexandra of Kent, the French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed suprise as the Queen put an arm around the towering Michelle Obama who reciprocated with an arm around the Queen’s shoulder. Or did she? Some say it was Mrs O who instigated it but whoever ran away with the moment I think it’s fair to say that the Queen is a big fan of the world’s favourite First Lady. As Michelle fever hits the UK, the Queen must be looking back at a time when cosying up to Eleanor Roosevelt would have been the scandal of the century.
