Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik, Current Events 2: January 2007 - August 2010

[lyndaW]

Originally Posted by David V

Faroese is a separate language, which evolved (like Icelandic) distinctly from other Scandinavian languages due to geographic isolation.

The Queen speaks Faroese.............does Frederick and/or Joachim also speak (or understand) Faroese????????

Has Joachim taken Marie to these Islands yet???????

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by lyndaW

The Queen speaks Faroese.............does Frederick and/or Joachim also speak (or understand) Faroese????????

Has Joachim taken Marie to these Islands yet???????

I don't believe Frederik nor Joachim understands many words of Faroese.

The Marie has yet to experience the Faroese Islands. - And Greenland for that matter.

Queen Margrethe has eagerly studied the Nordic sagas and being who she is, she has naturally studied them in the original language and Faroese and Icelandic are the closest thing we have to the language the late vikings spoke.

[iceflower]

Prince Henrik is on a private cruise with friends for some days.
With the Dannebrog they came to the German island Rügen,
then they travelled to Stralsund on the north coast of Germany.

Here are some pictures from yesterday, July 22:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 **

** article: Hjertelig velkommen in Sassnitz, Prinz Henrik! **

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik visited Ribe on the occasion of the
city's 1300th anniversary, today, July 29, 2010. An official welcome
at the town hall, visits at the library at Ribe Cathedral School, at the
Museum Ribe's Vikings and at the Cathedral have been part of the
programme.



** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 **


** dr.dk: Dronningen fejrer Ribes fødselsdag **

** tvsyd.dk: Dronningen til 1300 års-dag **

[Muhler]

Thank you, Iceflower

Ribe is one of the oldest towns in DK. It started out as a merchant port to the North Sea and during the reign of King Canute he would often have stayed here before sailing to England or upon returning from England.
Nowadays it's charming little town with narrow medieval streets and houses going back centuries.
At least in the tourist season a night watchman, carrying a lantern and armed with a ferocious looking morning star walks the streets and when the bell on the clock of the church strikes, he sings that the time is say ten and that all is well and hoping that God will preserve peace and the town. - Just like his predecessors would have done 150 years ago. - If they weren't busy "assisting" an intoxicated gentleman.

Originally Posted by iceflower

Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik visited Ribe on the occasion of the
city's 1300th anniversary, today, July 29, 2010. An official welcome
at the town hall, visits at the library at Ribe Cathedral School, at the
Museum Ribe's Vikings and at the Cathedral have been part of the
programme.



** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 **


** dr.dk: Dronningen fejrer Ribes fødselsdag **

** tvsyd.dk: Dronningen til 1300 års-dag **

[iceflower]

Sounds like it's worth visiting - thanks Muhler!

Here are two additional galleries from the visit in Ribe:

** Billed-Bladet - Se billederne: Regentparret fejrer Ribe **

** berlingske.dk - Regentparret i Ribe **

[Muhler]

Thank you, Iceflower

This picture is interesting: http://www.billedbladet.dk/Kongelige/Artic...be%20-%205.aspx
Her dress indentify her as an umarried girl from the Viking Age.
Married women wore head scarfs as a sign of their status and often keys, while unmarried girls flaunted their hair.
The semi-long sleeves is no coincidence either. Bare forearms were sexy.

ADDED:

A little more on Ribe.

Ribe were among the three major (known) trading centres in Scandinavia in the biginning of the Viking age. Hedeby and Birka being the two others.
If you look at a map, you see that Ribe is located some distance inland. Very simple because it was more practical and safe to place Ribe away from the coast and bad weather and not least raiders. The main threath came from the sea not land.
So Ribe was placed next to a small river, where the ships could be safe from the weather.
The interesting thing is that Ribe may not initially have been placed where it is now, it may very well have moved according to changes in the coastline.
Anyway, it was from Ribe you traded with the west and sometimes official raids would have been launched or at least financed from here. As such it would have been one of the most important town in Denmark at the time and the king would often have been here. Including King Canute (Knud), (you know, he who tried to command the waves and thus making a point) who ruled over what could have become a big northern European empire.
Centuries passed, the central government in the shape of the king became more powerful and more towns sprung up all over the country and by 11-1200's larger ships combined with increased competition from the emerging Hansa Leaque and other towns in Denmark, meant that Ribe wasn't located so well anymore. Ships now sailed to Aalborg, Århus, Skanderborg, Copenhagen or Randers from where they could sail further into the Baltic or offload goods and take on goods from the Baltic. The road system in DK was hardly worth writing home about and Ribe was left behind.

Nowadays, Ribe is a small charming medieval town, with narrow cobbled streets and centuries old houses with a cathedral as the natural centre. In the tourist season a night-watchman walk the streets carrying a lantern and a murderous looking morning star on a pole. When the clock strikes at the cathedral he sings that the time is say eleven and that all is well and hoping that God may preserve the peace and Ribe. - Just like his predecessors did 150 years ago.

http://www.jv.dk/artikel/924612:Esbjerg--S...?image=26#image
Here from the Viking Centre.
Notice the bow, it's similar in construction and style as the much more famous English longbow, albeit smaller. The Vikings certainly did not consider the use of a bow as being beneath their dignity, on the contrary, they regarded it as a very practical weapon. Not least for fighting onboard ships, which happened very often.

http://www.jv.dk/artikel/924612:Esbjerg--S...?image=29#image
Notice the woman on the left. She is married, even though she is nor wearing a headscarf. Wearing an apron with her hair tied up and all the bags and what not that signifies a busy housewife. And not least long sleeves as befits a decent, mature woman who deserve respect due to her status. The flirtatous days of her youth are over.
Women were not subserviant to their husbands as they were in the later Christian age. The wife ran the household with a firm hand! She would be in charge of the farm, when her husband was away, going Viking or whatever he was doing, that included any free male on the farm, with the exception of very close relatives of her husband. (There were always some men around, just in case). She naturally knew how to use a weapon, the concept of shieldmaidens was neither a myth nor a Joke. And as she was the one staying at home, she had the key to the money chest.

This picture is also very interesting: http://www.jv.dk/artikel/924612:Esbjerg--S...?image=30#image
The children are dressed up as people were around the Reformation (1530's). Notice the halbards carried by the boys, "bysvende" as they would have been called back then. Townspeople were not eligable to be drafted into the army, instead they were required to defend their town. Bysvende were either citizens who took turn policing the town, or more often young men, who apart from their dayjob also patrolled the city at night - and they had plenty to do! Drunkeness and brawls were very common. Life back then was much more violent than you may think.

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe together with Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway attended the funeral of Countess Ruth
of Rosenborg at the Skovshoved church in Klampenborg Skovhovedon,
Denmark, today, August 6, 2010.

The Countess has been a good friend of Queen Margrethe and the Norwegian
royal family, she died on July 25 at the age of 86.


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 **

** bt.dk: Norske kongehus til grevinde Ruths bisættelse **

[PrincessAurora]

Thank you, Iceflower. Those pictures are very nice. I think the queens must get along well. In the second picture, it looks as if Queen Sonja is comforting Queen Margrethe (or giving friendly support).

[stellam]

I think the only time I have ever seen the Queen show emotion in public was at either Christian or Isabella's baptism and now with the funeral of the Late Countess Ruth Rosenborg.

[iceflower]

You're welcome! Me, I was touched by Märtha Louise's tears, she
also seems to have liked the Countess a lot.

Here's a gallery with more pics from msndk - without watermarks:


** Haakon og Märtha Louises svære farvel **


In the meanwhile Prince Henrik had been in Skagen with the Dannebrog
on his way to a sailing event around Marstrand, Sweden. As already
posted in the twin thread he told the reporters how happy he was
about the baby news.


** Prins Henrik glæder sig til tvillingerne **

[Maura724]

Originally Posted by PrincessAurora

Thank you, Iceflower. Those pictures are very nice. I think the queens must get along well. In the second picture, it looks as if Queen Sonja is comforting Queen Margrethe (or giving friendly support).

Yes, they've been good friends for forty-something years. That's a sweet picture - they both look quite emotional.

[Muhler]

Well, you are bound to see this at some point anyway Her viser prins Henrik lidt for meget - Royale - BT.dk

I suggest you put on some sunglasses before opening the link. Prince Henrik is mooning.

So what can you learn from this? Always wear a belt.

Life would be less entertaining without Prince Henrik...

[iceflower]

Prince Henrik collecting oysters at Roemoe together with friends
including Elenore and Valentin Sibbern from Norway, Denmark,
August 8, 2010.
Looking at pic 5 Henrik seems the one expecting twins..


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 ** Pic 5 **

[Muhler]

Thank you, Iceflower

Summary of article in Billed Bladet #32, 2010.
Prinsen af Rømø - The Prince of Rømø.
Written by Ken Richter.

A decidely pregnant looking Prince Henrik visited the wadden sea around the island of Rømø at the south west coast of Jutland, not far from Schackenborg.
Here he was collecting oysters with some friends. (*) And a small feats was prepared in a tent.
Henrik is very fond of this part of DK. (**) He exclaimed two years ago: "Here I could live for the rest of my life".
This year he said: "I enjoy to come out to all nooks and crannies of the country, outside the big cities".
QMII's LiW added: "It's almost as when I gather mushrooms with the Queen at Trend. You get so preoccupied that you almost forget everything else and you do not keep an eye on where you are going at all. All the time a new mushroom turn up - in this case oysters - a bit further ahead and you just want to bring that home as well".
Henrik was here last time the day before the wedding between Joachim and our Marie with his sister, who is a nun. He said anumber of local islanders: "It's been a fantastic day and I hope I will some other time have the opportunity to give my family this utterly unique experience".

(*) Not for the first time. I remember an article a couple of years ago where he was absolutely enthusiastic about these oysters.

(**) He is not alone. When the tide is low you can walk for kilometres across the wadden sea. It's completely flat and the sky and horizon is endlessly far away. There are a multitude of birds there! Birds you won't see outside the wadden sea.
But, everything has a price. Each year cows, sheep and tourists are caught by the tide. You think you have plenty of time to walk to higher ground, but you don't realise how far out you are and suddenly you have to run. The water is cold, you won't make it to shore before hypothermia sets in.

Originally Posted by iceflower

Prince Henrik collecting oysters at Roemoe together with friends
including Elenore and Valentin Sibbern from Norway, Denmark,
August 8, 2010.
Looking at pic 5 Henrik seems the one expecting twins..


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 ** Pic 5 **

[wartenberg7]

I´m a bit surprised about the small number of danish royal members who attended this funeral! No C Prince, no Pr. Joachim or Prince Consort...? I thought the Countess was a memeber of the danish royal family! I was not too surprised about Princesses Mary and Marie as they learned to know Ruth at a very late stage in their lives - but the others, very strange. I don´t mean this as a criticism, it´s just something I perceive.

[Muhler]

There don't appear to be a dog/pet thread, so I'll post this here:

BT has an article about Henrik's dachshund Evita: http://www.bt.dk/royale/prins-henriks-hund...dt-til-psykolog

It got a lot of attention the last time she bit a guardsman. Not least in view of the attention regarding other dogs biting people in the public.
Anyway, the court has now confirmed that the dog is seeing experts in order to establish why she bites people and to teach her not to.

- About time, if you ask me!
Evita has bitten way too many people and I fear she has learned that biting people is acceptable, so it may be too late. But al least something is done.
It is so annoying when dog owners, in this case Henrik, do not live up to their responsibility. If the owner cannot or will not control their dog, well too bad, you should loose your dog, one way or another.
Get a budgie instead.

[Maura724]

How many times has Evita bitten someone? I know I've heard at least a couple stories about one of the royal dogs biting - is it always Evita?

I hope something can be done about it - it's so irritating that this keeps happening. It should be preventable, because it's not normal, standard dog behavior to constantly bite.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Maura724

How many times has Evita bitten someone? I know I've heard at least a couple stories about one of the royal dogs biting - is it always Evita?

I hope something can be done about it - it's so irritating that this keeps happening. It should be preventable, because it's not normal, standard dog behavior to constantly bite.

The last one was the sixth or seventh time, I believe.

Yes, something ought to have been done long ago. But it's not so much the dog as the owner who needs training.

[Maura724]

SIX OR SEVEN TIMES?!?!?!?! I knew it had happened before, but I would have guessed that this was perhaps the third incident. That's ridiculous that something is just now being done about it - there's no excuse for a dog to bite that many times. And yes as you say Muhler it is really more the owner's fault. "There are no bad dogs, only bad owners."