The Danish State Visit to Vietnam ended on Friday,with the royal men once again attending business forums in the morning at the Sheraton Hotel.

TRH Prince Henrik and Crown Prince Frederik once again viewed business stands and attended environmental seminars throughout the morning; while their wives, HM Queen Margrethe II and HRH Crown Princess Mary, paid a visit to the Phasion-Viedam Moulding factory where they were given a tour around the building.

They then moved on to Maersk, a company which produces helmets, in Ho Chi Minh City. The Queen and Crown Princess were introduced to a campaign for children’s regarding them wearing helmets when riding bikes. The duo then headed up to the stage with a group of young children, and assisted them in putting on their white Maersk helmets. And then it was the royal visitors’ turn to try on the helmets – Princess Mary managed to somewhat successfully place her helmet on top of her large brown hat, while Queen Margrethe laughed and passed her helmet on to her daughter-in-law to take back to Denmark, presumably for her two children Christian and Isabella.

The State Visit concluded at 16:00 local time, with a press conference with both Danish and Vietnamese media in the Thao Dien Village. The royal family discussed the visit, and what it was like to go on a state visit together. “It has been lovely, and it has been instructive,” Crown Princess Mary said of accompanying her in-laws to Vietnam. Queen Margrethe quickly agreed, “It’s fun to be two generations together. And instructive – also for an old hand like me.” Prince Henrik, who has no doubt enjoyed showing his family around the country he spent his early childhood in, also spoke highly of the visit and the family’s time together. Crown Prince Frederik was asked what it was like to attend a state visit with his mother and replied, “It’s always good to be able to learn in this subject that I am in right now. To be able to follow my parents in this way. It’s things that I of course put in my backpack.”

The visit concluded officially on Friday, but HM and the Prince Consort will stay on in Vietnam until November 11th. Crown Prince Frederik is off to South Korea on the 10th, for the annual meeting of the International Sailing Federation. It is unknown whether Crown Princess Mary will stay in Vietnam with her in-laws, or head back to Denmark.

JessRulz Danish Royals Margrethe II, Press Conference, Prince Frederik, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Princess Mary, State Visit, Vietnam

Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik have cancelled their annual press conference at the Prince Consort’s castle in the south of France, surprising both the press and royal watchers.

Klaus Kjøller of the University of Copenhagen said that it was a “step in completely the wrong direction” that could only be seen as a “step away from the people”. However, the cancellation could be simply due to the higher-than-normal exposure of the family over the year, what with the christening and Prince Henrik’s 75th birthday party.

Prince Henrik also surprised Danes by cutting short a four-hour engagement which had been in the works for a long time; upon arriving at the Aabenraa Rifle Club, the Prince Consort said that he could not stay for lunch and the shooting that would take place afterwards, instead staying for only half an hour.

For more information, please see this thread.

alex001 Danish Royals Margrethe II, Press Conference, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort

 On July 15th, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II attended a press conference at the Pantomime Theatre in the Tivoli amusement park to discuss the costumes and scenography she designed for the ballet ‘The Swineherd’.

Click to see the image at Billed Bladet

During the press conference, which took place after a dress rehearsal of the ballet, Queen Margrethe said that she took inspiration from royal caricatures when designing the costumes. Using colours like acid green, pink and purple; Margrethe told how she was inspired ”rather more from outsiders’ comments about my world than from my own.”

The Queen also told how as a young school-girl, she played the prince in her school theatre’s version of ‘The Swineherd’. “For the one thing I certainly would not be was the pink princess,” Margrethe II said with a big grin. She also told how important the works of Hans Christian Andersen are to her, reading several to her two eldest grandchildren, Princes Nikolai and Felix.

This ballet is the fourth Pantomime Theatre performance since 2001 that Queen Margrethe has been the scenographer for. The ballet features dancers from Denmark, neighbouring Norway and Finland, Spain and Portugal, France, England and the United States. It had its first show at Tivoli on July 16th, and will run until September 20th.

‘The Swineherd’ is a fairytale written by the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story revolves around a poor prince who dresses as a swineherd to woo the Emperor’s daughter.

Click here to read more about the press conference in the Queen’s current events thread.

JessRulz Danish Royals Hans Christian Andersen, Margrethe II, Press Conference, Scenography

Click here to see the photo at belgapicture

On May 10, 2004, Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan was scheduled for a news conference. Nobody expected anything spectacular or even especially interesting from this event. All public relations of the imperial family members are organized by the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) which sets up news conferences only on certain occasions, the most frequent being birthdays and visits of the royals to foreign countries. The journalists who are invited to attend – usually from a carefully selected pool of “court journalists” – ought to submit the questions they are intending to ask weeks in advance to the IHA officials on duty, for approval. The answers that the imperial prince or princess will give are also written down for them by the IHA before the news conference starts. All very well organized, no surprises involved for anybody, the worst thing one could say: that all this might be a little bit boring…

Click here to see the photo at ANP beeldbank

In May 2004, the crown prince was planning a trip to Europe where he was going to attend the royal weddings in Denmark and Spain. It was to be supposed that, on the obligatory press conference, he would discuss the trip’s schedule, make a few remarks concerning the friendly relations to the other royal families and maybe mention what everybody knew already: that his wife, Crown Princess Masako, was not so far recovered yet from her bout with shingles in December 2003 as to be able to accompany him. But his audience was going to be surprised… Read more…

ChiaraC Japanese Royals Imperial Household Agency, Press Conference, Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako, Scandal

Click to read the article from Billed Bladet

 Earlier today, Prince Henrik attended a press conference at the Gl Holtegaard Museum of Modern Art to present and talk about his private collection of African art that will go on exhibition between May 2 and July 26.

There are over 200 pieces of exquisite art in the exhibition, all from the Prince’s collection and chosen for the exhibition by the Prince himself. The exhibition, entitled “To Gods, Spirits and Ancestors”, has been put together to celebrate Prince Henrik’s 75th birthday in June.

Tomorrow, April 30th, Prince Henrik will attend the official opening of the exhibition, accompanied by Queen Margrethe II, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. The press release, and several photos of items in the exhibition, can be found here.

Prince Henrik’s current events thread, containing more pictures from the press conference, can be found here.

JessRulz Danish Royals Exhibition, Press Conference, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort

  King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will arrive in Holland later today to begin their three-day state visit to the nation.

The visiting royals will visit the regions of Kudelstaart, Gronigen and The Hague. A jam-packed schedule awaits the King and Queen when they touch down in the Netherlands, which can be found in depth here. One of the main highlights of the visit will be the gala banquet hosted by Queen Beatrix at Noordeinde Palace this evening.

In preparation for the state visit, Carl Gustaf and Silvia held their customary press meeting with journalists from the nation they are visiting last week. In the meeting, they spoke of their relationships with Queen Beatrix and her father, Prince Bernhard. The King said that the late Prince rang to congratulate him on his birthday every year, and that Queen Beatrix was “ambitious, extremely ambitious, always busy.” Always being diplomatic, Queen Silvia jumped in saying that wasn’t meant in a negative way.

The last Swedish state visit to the Netherlands took place in 1976, when King Carl XVI Gustaf and his new bride Silvia visited the King’s godmother, Queen Juliana. Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus paid a state visit to Sweden in 1987.

Further information on the state visit can be found here. Pictures will be posted there once they become available.

JessRulz Dutch Royals, Swedish Royals Carl XVI Gustaf, Press Conference, Queen Beatrix, Queen Silvia, State Visit

Click to see the images at Belga

In a press conference yesterday, Prince Carl Philip introduced a line of silvery cutlery he has design for the Swedish company Mema/GAB.

The cutlery line, which has been named CPB 2091, is made of silver and a set of five pieces (knife, fork, spoon, dessert spoon, coffee spoon) can be purchased from goldsmith stores around Sweden for 999 Swedish kroner (approximately 95 Euros).

The Prince, who studied design at the Rhode Island School of Design in the US and the Forsberg Studio in Sweden, said of his designs, “It’s been a fantastic challenge and I am really proud of the result.”

Click here to read more about Carl Philip’s cutlery.

JessRulz Swedish Royals Press Conference, Prince Carl Philip

Click to see the gallery from Fyens Stiftstidende

Queen Margrethe today attended the press conference for the film version of “Wild Swans”, a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. The Queen worked on the set and the costumes, as well as writing the script and made eighty collages for the film.

The Queen herself is a great fan of Andersen, and loves his works as he is “…so rich in his many different expressions”

Although Stine Fischer Christensen, who plays the leading role as the Princess, was at first nervous to be working with the Queen, she soon found that it was actually a great help for her as she could tell her how to act like a princess; for example, how to curtsy properly.

The film will be premiered this autumn.

For more information, please see this thread.

alex001 Danish Royals Margrethe II, Press Conference

Click on the image to see more from Daylife

  After years of speculations, the Swedish royal court finally announced the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria to gym-owner Daniel Westling. The official announcement was not only done by a simple press release, but a statement to Sweden, and the world, via online video.

Sitting with his wife, his daughter and heir, and future son-in-law, King Carl XVI Gustaf gave the news Swedes everywhere have been waiting for.

“Dear Swedes, at home and abroad. Yes, this is how I tend to begin my speeches on radio and TV when there is something I wish to convey. And, as you may have guessed, there is something very special I would like to convey: namely, the public announcement today of the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria and Mr Daniel Westling.”

Exchanging glances and smiles, Victoria and Daniel listened as the King, and also Queen Silvia, spoke about how well the future Duke of Vastergotland is suited to be both husband and prince consort to the future Queen of Sweden. The royal and proud parents also told Victoria how much they supported her decision to marry Westling.

Read more…

Sonjapearl Swedish Royals Carl XVI Gustaf, Daniel Westling, Engagement, Press Conference, Princess Victoria, Queen Silvia, Wedding