Danish Royal Family, Current Events 3: April 2010 - June 2012

[FasterB]

From: Kristeligt Dagblad

Prædiken ved biskop over Københavns Stift, Peter Skov Jakobsen:


Sermon by Bishop of Diocese of Copenhagen, Peter Skov Jakobsen:

There are days that you would never have wished for the earth!
There are days that etched itself into the mind and will always be there!
Things are happening in the world which is so bedærvede, stupid and evil, and leaves people with a lively sense of powerlessness!
Most of us felt the other day Friday.
The wild powerlessness reaching for harsh words, persuasive words, angry words.
Would not most of us have almost swung his fists at the sky and asked, however, there just might undes us a shred of meaning in the meaningless!
The answer was silence - or rather: a scream!
In one of the many reports are heard a frightened man's desperate screams! That cry has been echoed in many minds.
Whether you believe or not believe - is one thing we share, and it is feeling that now we must be careful with words. Now everything threatens to become hollow, superficial, trivial.
The world seems deprived of its deepest meaning for a while - that godforsaken.
How can we find the words that will sound, the colors that gives horizons, the tones that sounds?
How dare we speak again of hope in a world where madness has manifested itself so horrible?
Most people admit that the idea that the world would be god-forsaken them are familiar, and therefore we are appalled and hunted by meaninglessness. Our eyes scout for love, freedom, equality and fairness heart!

Suddenly it is as if out of the lake rises a country. It rises from the sea with beautiful contours. It is lined and it is weathered, but the country has a dream with him - not a nightmare!
The Norwegian is to know that there probably is nothing that stirs admiration, wonder and longing in Danish mind that mountain - the proud land mass that rises toward the clouds. The Norwegian poet Rolf Jacobsen describes the mountain, so there is no doubt about that mountain is more than rock! It stands there and stands there and does not move an inch and people can put their anguished foreheads against the rock wall and get rest and coolness.
The mountain stood there, as they hammered a poor fixed to the cross and while the big heads, which did not provide a thought that had power. It stood under the concentration camps and Hiroshima. It stands as a landmark of death, turmoil and perhaps hoped. It reads the stars. Something old. Something you can hold onto and cooling his forehead on.

Such rock is the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted.
Well, it is because otherwise the people there is great demand and the status to be coveted worthy!
But it is Jesus' radical message of love. Power, the real power, that is the one who creates the opening for the free spirit, the one that opens my mind to his fellow man, it makes me understand and acknowledge that I am part of a larger whole - the power is completely different than the power to dictate prohibits murder.
Czechoslovakia's first president Masaryk, put it clearly when he argued that the principle of power would not be Caesar, then emperor, the oppressor, the undisputed, but Jesus. Power should be anything but subtle intrigues and maneuvering art. Power must be the Spirit that radiates love and longing for community - it must be a drift towards shared happiness - a walk away from violence, vanity, ambition and selfishness.
We'll have to face it that democracy is despised by some people. Large parts of the political struggle in the 20.årh. was about democracy or another dream, like most of us in our context, consider a nightmare: the totalitarian society.
I do not know where the idea comes from that no man could have as much right, and be as clear sighted that he must be without contradiction, be beyond discussion.
We need to protect our way of being in society!
We need to insist on openness, free thought, tolerance and compassion for an opponent. We believe that opinions must be broken. The adversary should not be hated. Democracy's lifeblood is the conversation, discussion, and of course the right to demonstrate.
What would become of us if we accepted the totalitarian man's anger against the adversary and contempt for fellow human beings? We have just witnessed the contempt for fellow human beings, anger and rage leaves.
"Love your enemies, pray for your opponents," Jesus had said to the disciples. We need to nurture ourselves stuck in the impossible art and show reverence for the opponent, because we will not end up in their shrill rhetoric and become obsessed with the pettiness and bigotry, tyranny and ugliness, political and human callousness!
Terror and horror that unfolded in Oslo and at Utøya on Friday, leaving many people with indescribable pain, and we, the immediate family, can only cry and ask us next to and hum along in hope tunes, maybe some a comforting hand or send a warm look, put a flower, light a candle, pray God reveal His love, especially in the desperate and anguished hearts.
With grief as a companion, we will go into the future, and we would hope - we will stubbornly hope that faith imagination will liberate humanity, community, compassion, courage, joy, jubilation.
We will persistently yearn for a new heaven and a new earth - and we will dream about it quite another and quite different - that he is healed and met people where they were and we would hope that our dream is echoed in acts against community.

Let us meanwhile be challenged by the mountain of Jesus.
In captivity, wrote the Norwegian poet Arnulf Øverland in 1942 poetry collection: We will survive everything.
He was not so enthusiastic about the church, which he felt had delivered its contribution of gossip and hypocrisy, but he had a unique sense of Jesus. In the poem HE WHO MUST COME expresses Øverland dream of completely different - that is about the Savior who would die if tømmersvenden went into bad company, if spotteord toward the cross when he was executed - and the dream: that he, Jesus would come again .
And then he leaps up to the present and write about when strangers have in the kingdom, and sons, fathers and wives indicate men when roads are deserted and dark full of screaming when the killers head high with the neck and the air you breathe is the stench - and there in the middle in the horror - in the middle of the dark - in the middle of captivity, he describes Jesus as the culmination of hope:
We know him yet.
We do not know who he is.
He wears no crown.
He leads no army.
We perceive only a silence:
Now he is near!

[FasterB]

From: Statsministeriet

Statsminister Lars Løkke Rasmussens tale ved mindegudstjenesten i Vor Frue Kirke i København den 27. juli 2011
Det talte ord gælder



Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's speech at the memorial service at Our Lady Church in Copenhagen on 27 July 2011
The spoken word applies

At one moment it can feel as though everything we know, being torn away below us. Our faith in the good in people. Our hope for a life of joy, optimism and love for our family and loved ones. Our ideal of an open, secure and democratic society.

The attacks on 22 July in Norway was such a moment. My heart froze to ice.

At Utøya were active and committed young people dream of creating a better future turned into a nightmare worse than anyone could imagine.

In Oslo the everyday lives of citizens and employees in state administration blown to pieces and replaced with the pain, chaos and uncertainty.

The Norwegian people have suffered an irreplaceable loss as a result of this senseless, brutal and cowardly act. Innocent young lives were taken. Relatives of those killed, wounded and missing feel an incredible pain.

Norway is in mourning.

And today we take care with Norway.

My heart froze to ice, but dry up again by the warmth of the Norwegian people's reaction: Love and care to the most evil evil. Unity and Community to the cowardly attempt at schism. Consideration and thoughtfulness to the wildest madness. I express my deepest respect for the strength, the calm, the cutting resistance, the Norwegian people and the Norwegian government has shown in dealing with this tragedy.

The wounds are deep and will take a long time to heal. But to all who are affected by this tragedy, to the Norwegian Government to the Norwegian people: I know that Denmark stands with Norway in this difficult moment. We feel with you. We support you. We share your grief.

The Danish population has in recent days showed great compassion and support. It shows that the perception of Norway as our brother country is a deep and genuine feeling. We see the attack as an attack on our brothers and sisters - as an attack on ourselves.

We are not only mourning together with Norway. We also stands together to defend and preserve that which was attempted taken from us, 22 July. Freedom. Openness. Democracy. Trust. Community. Basic values ​​that bind our nations together.

Today we remember those killed. We express our solidarity and sympathy with the relatives and the wounded.

But we also look forward. Together we will raise us. Those who do not want democracy, and instead resort to violence and destruction, will not succeed in their plan. We will not be intimidated. Together we will continue to do our open society even stronger.

This is our promise to the young at Utøya. This is our promise to Oslo. This is our promise to Norway. This is our promise to each other.

Glory be to the bereaved memory.

[Muhler]

A gallery from BT: SE BILLEDERNE: De kongelige og statsministeren mindes ofrene | www.bt.dk

And from Politiken: http://politiken.dk/fotografier/nyhe...rebet-i-norge/

One of the songs that I understand were song during this service was: Kringsatt av Fiender, which can be translated to something like: surrounded by enemies or perhaps rather: enemy at the gate.
This poignant song has, very appropriatly, become the more or less official "anthem" of this tragedy.
It was written in 1936 by Nordahl Grieg in response to the threat of yet another great war looming in the horizon.
The song is known by practically everyone in the Nordic countries.

The song can be interpreted in various ways.
It's primarily a song for peace.
The way I interprete it is that it is a song of mobilization, to stand up.
The song aknowledge the fear, the reluctance, the sense of being alone and the daunting thought of what can I do, I being alone.
The song calls for you to stand up, you can do something. You can fight oppression, the threat of war and the threat of dark forces with spirit, deed and example. You must stand up.
If need be you must fight.
The song is also an expression of hope and it urges you to believe in mankind and in the good of man and to place your hope and faith of a better world in the young people. You must treasure and kindle that spirit, that faith.
- Nordahl Grieg was killed in action in 1943.

This version is Norwegian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irfB9GUdjPE

[FasterB]

A little resumé from me as I watched the mourningservice.

The first piece of music was "Befiehl du deine wege" by Brahms, played on the organ by Flemming Dreisig, who is the principal organplayer at the Cathedral.

Then the congregation sang the psalm "Befal du dine veje". I don´t know how to link to google translate, but here is the danish wording: Den Danske Salmebog Online - Salme 36

I noticed that the norwegian ambassador in Denmark had a hard time singing this psalm. I can fully understand him as it is a hard psalm to sing under these circumstances.

Then we heard Christel Elisabeth Schmidt singing "The Spring" by E. Grieg from "Peer Gynt". She sang in norwegian. Soooo beautiful.

Then the congregation sang Den Danske Salmebog Online - Salme 636
A very touching norwegian psalm. We sang it in the church where I sing.

Then the norwegian priest read from the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. Very appropriate. Ending with these words: "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of rightousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven"

Then the choir of the cathedral sang a norwegian psalm: "I Himmelen, i Himmelen" (In Heaven, in Heaven).

The Bishop spoke, which you can read above.

Then it was time for the congregation to sing again: Den Danske Salmebog Online - Salme 345

After which the PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen spoke. His speech is also above.

We heard Christina Åstrand playing John Halvorson´s "Veslemøys sang" on the violin.

Then the norwegian ambassador in Denmark spoked. He thanked Denmark for the love, care and support towards Norway and the norwegian people from Denmark.

Time for another psalm: Kringsatt av fiender - Johan Grieg. A norwegian hymn by Nordahl Grieg. It´s also called "To the Youth"

The three priests, two danish and one norwegian, prayed together and the congregation answered with:
"O Lord, hear my prayer.
O Lord, hear my prayer.
When I call, answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer.
O Lord, hear my prayer.
Come and listen to me"

Followed by The Lord´s prayer and the Blessing, simultaneously in danish and norwegian.

The last psalm was Den Danske Salmebog Online - Salme 121, during which something happened that I have never seen before. The congregation sang the last verse standing. I have only seen this happen during another popular funeralpsalm "Altid frejdig".

Another norwegian tune was being played on the organ while QMII, CP Frederik and CPss Mary left the church. It was Bjarne Sløgedal´s "Å hvor salig det skal blive". This tune wasn´t played by Flemming Dreisig, but I didn´t get the name of the organplayer...

QMII and CPss Mary left together in the same car "Store Krone". I don´t know why...

A little thing I noticed: Both CP Frederik and CPss Mary had red eyes :( It was indeed a very warm and heartfelt service.

[marine2109]

27-07-2011 Church Queen Margrethe, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended at the Vor Frue Church, Copenhagens Cathedral the memorial Service for the Norwegian Victims.

PPE Agency Church

The royals in common grief at the cathedral

Billed-Bladet - De kongelige i fælles sorg i domkirken

Google Google Translate

[FasterB]

Article and photos: Mening i det meningsløse*| Kristeligt Dagblad

[Muhler]

A gallery from Billed Bladet focusing on Mary being moved to tears during the service yesterday: Billed-Bladet - Kronprinsesse Mary i tårer for Norge

Alternatively: https://picasaweb.google.com/billedb...egudstjeneste#

[Marika86]

Danish royals show solidarity with Norway victims | Latest celebrity news hellomagazine.com

"Hola" La reina Margarita y los príncipes daneses muestran su solidaridad con Noruega

[Muhler]

Here is a scan of the handwritten letter of condolences from the Regent Couple to the Norwegian Regent Couple: http://www.kongehuset.no/c27428/binf....php?tid=92970

Onboard Danneborg 22. July 2011.
In the evening.

Dear Harald!

We have just, during our travels in Greenland, learned about the terrible events going on in and around Oslo today.
We send you (informal you) and your family and the entire Norwegian people our most sincere thoughts and compassion .

- First posted on the Scandinavian Royals Message Board , by JSR

[Emmily]

Muhler, after the memorial held for the Norway victims Mary got in a car with the Queen and Fred left separately. Was he on his way to the public audience that you mentioned?

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Emmily

Muhler, after the memorial held for the Norway victims Mary got in a car with the Queen and Fred left separately. Was he on his way to the public audience that you mentioned?

He did?
The public audience was Monday, the service was Wednesday.
Perhaps they said something on TV?
I didn't see the service myself.
Can you help FasterB?

[FasterB]

Originally Posted by Muhler

He did?
The public audience was Monday, the service was Wednesday.
Perhaps they said something on TV?
I didn't see the service myself.
Can you help FasterB?

No, sorry, they didn´t say anything else that QMII and CPss Mary left together and CP Frederik stayed. I don´t know why...

[Emmily]

I messed up! Sorry, the service was Wed, but there was a video of the family leaving the service and Mary and the Queen got in a car together and Fred didn't.

[JessRulz]

The informality of the letter is carried through to the bottom - the Queen signs it 'Daisy' instead of 'Margrethe'. IMO showing the close connection between the two families.

[Muhler]

As a follow up to the official letter of condolences, this is what the Regent Couple told the press.

Excerpts from article in Billed Bladet #30, 2011.
Det berører os dybt - It affects us deeply.
Written by Annelise Weimann.
http://www.billedbladet.dk/Kongelige...os%20dybt.aspx

QMII: "It's a shocking event. That's what both of us feel very much. It feels odd, when you sit here in Greenland, where you don't get papers and therefore have to follow it a bit on secondhand basis. (*) Our thoughts go to Norway and the Norwegians. Both of us have close connections with Norway, so this is something that affects us tremendously".

Q: Have you been in contact with the Norwegian royal couple?
QMII: "We have send our condolences to the Norwegian royal couple, but we haven't phoned them, they have enough on their minds".

Q: Do you think about whether something like this can happen in Denmark?
QMII: "No one can imagine something like this to happen. That's why it will be equally surprising everywhere it may occour".
PH: "There are unfortunately insane people all over the world".
QMII: "Yes, this certainly seems like someone who is not in his right mind".

(*) As we all know, computers is something of an enigma to QMII, so presumably is the Internet. And TV? It's not my impression QMII watch a lot of TV. I guess what she can read in a paper is more reliable to her.

[IloveCP]

When I saw a picture of Mary crying in the church,it was so sad and sweet that she and her husband were holding hands.

[fairy tale]

pictures from the memorial service
Les princesse Mary et Victoria en deuil, très marquées par le massacre norvégien

[Muhler]

Excerpts from article in Billed Bladet #31, 2011.
Mary rørt til tårer - Mary moved to tears.
Written by Anna Johannesen.

We are now all familiar with the tragedy in Norway and also with the fact that many official representatives from the government and the Parliament as well as ordinary citixens attended this memorial service (*) as such this was Denmark officially mourning the dead in Norway. - So I'll do it differently this time and translate the parts of the article which are specifically about the DRF.

The emotions overwhelmed Crown Princess Mary when she together with the Queen and the Crown Prince remembered the victims of the act of terror in Norway and a service in Copenhagen Cathedral (**). During the entire ceremony which lasted a little over an hour Mary sat upright on her chair in front of (actually next to) the altar. She listened to the speeches, sang along to all the psalmes but at the very end the tears burst forth. Initially she tried, beneath the large brim of the hat, to wipe her eyes, but eventually she needed her handkerchief.
One of the very first who were gunned down at Utøya was the step brother of the Norwegian Crown Princess, Mette-Marit. The dreadful tragedy has been uspeakably hurtful/painful to Crown Princess Mary, so no one can blame her if her thoughts during the solemn occasion went to Mette-Marit. Frederik and Mary are closely attached to the Norwegian Crown Princely couple.
The royal three-leaf-clower was escorted to their seats by bishop Skov-Jacobsen. Queen Margrethe was in a black suit, black hat and flat black shoes, while Crown Princess Mary had opted for at short sleeved black dress with a wide skirt. Neneath her wide brimmed hat, she wore a pony tail and on her feet she had a couple of neat looking stilettos. (***)

During the PM's speech Mary quietly tucked her hand in beneath Frederik's hand and in that way they sat for a while and held each other's hands tightly. Frederik too was from time to time visibly moved by the atmosphere in the church, as was his mother with whom he at some point had a minor whipsering coversation.

(*) DK lesson: Mindegudstjeneste = memorial service. Gudstjeneste litterally means service to God.

(**) Another DK lesson should you ever come her: Domkirke = Cathedral which is the seat of a bishop. Cathedral in general = katedral. FasterB correct me if I'm wrong.

(***) Perhaps you wonder why the articles in BB always contain a description of the various outfits? Why don't they just look at the pics. Mrs. Muhler explained to me that it's for the benefit of the blind and elderly, who are often fond of having the articles read out aloud but who cannot see the pictures.
And having someone describing the outfits in the pics? Well, imagine if I were to describe Mary's outfits to you!

[FasterB]

Originally Posted by Muhler

The royal three-leaf-clower was escorted to their seats by bishop Skov-Jacobsen.

Oh no, they weren´t It was Domprovst Anders Gadegaard, who escorted them to their seats

Originally Posted by Muhler

(**) Another DK lesson should you ever come her: Domkirke = Cathedral which is the seat of a bishop. Cathedral in general = katedral. FasterB correct me if I'm wrong.

You are absolutely right, Muhler But I think that in DK we uses the terms Cathedral = Domkirke and church = Kirke, as in all the other churches which are not cathedrals.
We don´t have cathedrals in general in DK. We only have Domkirker

[helenbeee]

Probably what you may not be aware of is the similarity of this massacre and the one that occurred in Marys home state of Tasmania in Port Arthur. As a small community Tasmanians were badly affected by the terrible massacre that was also enacted by a young white male of about the same age. There were a few similarities between the 2 incidences which would have not gone unnoticed by the princess. I made the connection immediately and felt very emotional by it.