Danish Royal Family Christmas: 2003, 2004, 2006-2014, 2016-2023


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What a delightful video. ?

If they made that video during one outing then that's quite a walk for so small legs!!
 
Matches. I've noticed it before the DRF members tends to use matches.
They must pretty much be the only ones left in the whole country to use matches to light candles IMO.

And that says a lot, since every Dane lights about 64 tonnes of candles on average a year!
Okay, perhaps slightly exaggerated, but we are still pretty obsessed with candles even despite the much increased (and safer!) use of LED-candles.
I believe we still comfortably hold the world record in use of candles.

The average DK living room looks like a major forest fire during the winter months.
A sight like this is extremely common, certainly here in the Muhler residence:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-93Bs6yqwjYg/UuqUXLNjOJI/AAAAAAAAAFE/IavUI4Mt3yI/s640/20140130_190107.jpg

tak, grin

a german statistic from 2018 says 4,3 kg are used by each Dansker :lol:

by the way Oslo palace sells "Royal" matches in a beautiful little giftbox, so our Norwegian neighbours share this tradition
 
Turns out the doggie Tillia plays with in the video it's her own pup Figaro! Cuteness overload!
I also love that she's walked by Jesper G. Jensen, who used to be aide for Prince Henrik, it's moving considering Tillia was originally Henrik's dog.

No one does it like the Danes. Their Christmas posts are wonderful.
 
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What a lovely find.

20 boxes of Christmas decorations at Marselisborg?!? That surpasses even what we've got here at home. ?

One of the things that fascinate me with the employees behind the scenes at the palaces, be they cleaners or craftsmen and that is job-satisfaction.
Imagine being allowed to go to work every day and do your very best, taking the time you need. No budget restraints, no cutting corners, no lower quality parameters, no impossible deadlines. It must be heaven!
No wonder the courtiers at this level mostly stay in their jobs for decades.
 
How can you still put candles on a tree without the traditional “servant with a bucket of water” to stand by?
 
While the merest mention of using candles to decorate for Christmas brings howls from the family questioning my sanity (and home insurance), I really love the use of as while they bring a beautiful warmth and comfortable feeling to a room. :flowers:

I can vaguely remember reading about the "servant with a water bucket" and judging by the sheer number of candles on all those Christmas tree candles it seems a prudent measure, although I am sure these days the bucket has been replaced with a polished brass hand pump at the very least. :D

To be honest though, these days tall candles are in danger of going soft and bending. I will leave it to the imagination what they look like situated around the room. :doh:
 
How can you still put candles on a tree without the traditional “servant with a bucket of water” to stand by?

What contraption is that?

Well, most here have a bucket of water (with some detergent in it!) hidden behind a chair near the Christmas tree. (Mind dogs and small children though.) Or a fire extinguisher or a blanket. These precautions have been hammered into us year after year.
And as we are so fond of candles the rest of the eleven months of the year it's not uncommon to have a spray with water and a couple of drops of detergents (breaks the water tension) in every room there is a candle, not least if you have teens in your home! So you can react quickly if a candle should act up.
 
That's an odd way of holding a pen.

How can you control what you are writing that way? Let alone see what you are writing.
 
:previous: As someone who also has an extremely ergonomically challenged grip on a pencil, it's so difficult to change when you've gotten used to it :sad:


Loved today's video! Am especially stricken by how Josephine almost looks even more grown up than Isabella. It feels like just yesterday the twins were born!

Speaking of Josephine, notice the necklace she's wearing: the Dagmar Cross. Believed to originally have belonged to either Valdemar II's wife Dagmar of Bohemia (as the reliquary was found in her tomb) or his sister Richiza (great-great-grandmother of Margrethe I's son Oluf). Popularised when Frederik VII gave a replica as a wedding gift to Princess Alexandra of Denmark at her wedding to Edward VII in 1863.
 
:previous: Well both of them sure got a better handwriting than me.
It's quite amazing how little handwriting I do nowadays, come to think of it, it happens I don't write anything for a couple of days and when I do it's usually just a quick note.
I don't think I could write a fully readable letter if my life depended on it, if I was told to do it right now.

Beforehand you were told to hold the pen in one specific way and write with your right hand, too bad if you were left handed.

But back to the DRF.
M&F should have arrived at Marselisborg by now. They usually live at the cavallier building next to the main building, that's where the staff, courtiers and some guests stayed.
Servants and cooks and what not lived in building nearby. That building is now used by the soldiers from the Royal Lifeguard regiment, I understand. Beforehand they stayed in one of the three or four barracks there used to be in Aarhus. (There were no less than four regiments in the city!)
There is also a smaller building that was previously used by those who looked after Marselsborg, but today he lives in a private house on the far end of the park. A lovely, secluded house in the middle of the Marselisborg Forest. You'd have to pay a serious fortune for that location!
The DRF used to bring a horde of servants with them back when Marselisborg was build some 110 years or so ago, so they accommodations were quite good.
That in contrast to the accommodations at Marselisborg itself. It was as you may recall a wedding present from Aarhus to the newly married CP couple back then i.e. the later Christian X and wife, and quite understandably they hadn't produced any children yet...
And the idea that they might eventually produce children apparently didn't occur to the architect and those who approved the whole thing. So as QMII puts it: Marseliborg is awful big house with awful little room.
Because there are big a spacious rooms alright and a couple of wonderful big bedrooms. But only a handful of additional bedrooms and they were mainly meant for the chambermaid and the valet.

Marselisborg is also where QMII went all out on colorful patterns in regards to upholstery on the their furnitures. QMII did not miss nor has she ever forgotten the vivid and colorful fashion of 1968!
I dare not post any photos lest my monitor explodes! :ermm: But you can find them on the Net, if you are courageous enough!

There are a number of traditions with Christmas at Marselisborg.
The watch on Christmas Eve is sought after among the guardsmen, not as much a New Year Eve though but we will get to that eventually. As such those who serve at Marselisborg at Christmas are usually from Jutland, which means that at the change of the guards at noon, hordes of parents and grandparents gather to see their son or daughter among the ranks of guardsmen.
The DRF always attend Christmas service in the afternoon (while the table is set back at Marselisborg) at Aarhus Cathedral, so don't worry, we are going to see all of them today (unless some of them have fallen ill).
On the way the Regent Couple will always stop at the guards-house to wish the guardsmen a Merry Christmas. With no PH around, it's Frederik who accompany QMII in the toast.

The DRF have dinner around 18.00 or so, around the time pretty much everybody else who celebrate Christmas in DK eat as well.

After a couple of hours it's time to open the presents. The DRF don't dance around the Christmas tree. QMII stays with the original tradition, where "the tree is shown (presented)", to be looked at and admired.
 
The final calendar day:


For the first time, a Dane celebrates Christmas in space ����*��

Before the Crown Prince family went on Christmas vacation to Aarhus, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince called the International Space Station from Earth to wish astronaut Andreas Mogensen a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".

Although the connection was a little unstable, it turned into a longer conversation between the Crown Prince and the astronaut ��

The special Christmas call piqued the curiosity of the Crown Prince Couple's children, and one by one the princes and princesses joined the conversation, where Andreas Mogensen, among other things, gave Their Royal Highnesses a tour of the space station.

Merry Christmas to everyone in both space and on earth ����



Crown Princess Mary has photographed Queen Margrethe lightning the fourth candle today:


** instagram gallery **


Four candles now burn on Advent wreaths all over the country ��️��️��️��️

This also applies at Marselisborg Castle, where Her Majesty the Queen, the Crown Prince family and Their Royal Highnesses Prince Joachim and Princess Marie as well as Their Excellencies Count Henrik and Countess Athena celebrate Christmas Eve.

��Merry Christmas from the entire Royal House ✨
 
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This is Andreas Mogensen's second tour in space.

He is a very pleasant man and when he opens his mouth something intelligent comes out, that's a rare thing.
QMII called him in for a personal audience (a very rare honor!) when he returned the Earth the first time. I imagine they had a very lively and interesting conversation and I'm sure QMII asked some challenging questions.

As such I should be extremely surprised if she doesn't rope him in for a second audience when he comes back from ISS.
 
Speaking to outer space with the Danish Astronaut,What a proud moment. They all look very interested.
https://content.invisioncic.com/r38...98.jpeg.d8f937766e258f79413c3435f14fbf44.jpeg
https://content.invisioncic.com/r38...18.jpeg.b48e17e607aab47d43736d93050f1b33.jpeg

Vincent with his hand on Christian's back, looks like he missed his big brother.
https://content.invisioncic.com/r38...73.jpeg.10c4fcbd88ddaf718b7b68ae206db542.jpeg

Nice entry for the Danish Christmas calendar


Very nice to see the family, just missing Nikolai and Felix.

Frederik and Mary
https://www.billedbladet.dk/kongeli...rederik-og-kronprinsesse-mary-julehyggede-med
 
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As you can tell the weather is pretty dreadful in Aarhus tonight. Rainy and windy.

Is that a rosetta-thingy on Joesphine's chest? (Or whatever you call it.)
Wonder if it has any significance? The twins won't be confirmed next year, right? Too young. So it probably has nothing to do with the confirmation preparation.
Or is it a fashion thing among teens/tweens?
 
Prince Henrik has sprouted! My goodness he is quite tall!!
It was nice to see Felix assisting his grandmother out of the vehicle.

Nice to see the family happy and appearing to be very united.
 
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