General Questions and Information about the Danish Royal Family

[paulette]

Does Denmark have a National Day? I'm sure it's yes but what time in the year?
If ever you have some pictures or informations, please post it. :)

[Louise]

Hi everyone.

The official Danish national day is june the 5th, which is the day we celebrate the constitution. But we also celebrate the queens birthday, which is the 16th of april.

[paulette]

Thanks Louise for the dates and events!

[hrhcp]

Louise  Posted: Nov 15th, 2003 - 5:00 am
The official Danish national day is june the 5th

There is then no confusion for those (Swedes working in Denmark and vice versa) with Sweden celebrating its national day on June 6 ?

[Louise]

well, since the danish national day isn't a holiday, strangely enough, I think the stores have started to close around noon, but we didn't get the day of when I was in school, I don't think there can be that much confusion.

[Josefine]

are there is photos of royals from june 5

[betina]

in the schools today the 5th of June is a holliday, but really you can´t call it a national day. It is more a constitution day. We are not celebrating it like the americans.
Betina

[DKgirls]

We wouldn't call the Queen's birthday a national day......it isn't celebrated and noone has the day off! But we do know that every year a couple of days before, our class has a big discussion with our teachers about why we don't have the day off since we really should!

But even though we have Grundlovsdag(June 5th) off, we still don't celebrate! But you did earlier, it just doesn't any more :)

[paulette]

The Danes have a long history of traditions, which often date back to before Christianity
made its entry into Denmark. The Danish flag, the Dannebrog, is the most frequently
used symbol. It is used on most festive occasions and holidays, which is why the Danes
are among the people who use their flag the most.

Constitution Day, 5 June, celebrates the Danish Constitution and the introduction of
democracy in 1849. All shops and schools are closed on that day, and public offices and institutions close at 12 noon. Politicians and other celebrities make speeches in parks and gatherings throughout the country.

Is this what would happen during constitution day?

[sara1981]

same Norway have national day follow day im not sure what day of national day of Norway's national day!

Sara Boyce

[Yennie]

Norway celebrates the national day on May 17.
Now thats what I call a party :) I´ve been there once and it was amazing. There were people everywere, they were all dressed in national costumes and it was like a huge party everywhere in the city of Oslo.

[DKgirls]

Exactly Yennie, Norway has what we would call a real National Day :) Of course Denmark has one, but it's not the same when noone celebrates it!

[rchainho]

The speedy prince

Excerpt from the book:Frederik, by Poul Jørgensen, 1998

The Crown Prince got his driving license shortly before his 18 anniversary.

This day is a great one in a young man's life. To become eigtheen is the first real milestone, and this was the day where CP frederik was celebrated with full honour.

The CP of Denmark became 18: may 26, 1986, and he came of age, too. From this day on he must appear at the meeting of the ministers, and there was a huge official celebration that day.

A little less official was the start of the day. The CP was waked up by the sound of hurrays shouted beneath his windows, and members of the DR Girl Choir singing for him.

Many gifts had appeared in good time before the event, other at the anniversary day. But the best one, stood in the garage.

It had arrived the day before, and the CP had visited it at the shop. Now it was there. A Volvo 480 ES. A speedy Swedish sportscar, the first of it's kind in Denmark. The firm had provided two, so that the CP could chose the colour, a dark or a silver painted. CP Frederik chose the dark one.

The car had stayed the nigth and smiled to him before the birthday party. The driving license was OK, but the order was that he musn't touch the car before his 18th anniversary, so he could drive legally.

It must had been hard for him the day before, not to touch the car.

Later the prince would take revenge.

And CP Frederik looks to be very happy when he drives a car. And he drives fast. The "turbo prince" and the "ligthening prince" is some of the expressions used by the press.

He has had different types of cars. BMV M3, Volvo 740 to name a few, all speedy.

Often one may experience a car speeding by on the Danish roads, and who is sitting behide the steering wheel? Yes, the Crown Prince.

And this he hasn't from foreigners. His maternal grandmother, Queen Ingrid, didn't waste time letting herself be driven from one place to another, no, she took the wheels herself and was quite speedy.

The Crown Prince has often drivin right up to a speeding ticket at a police control block, but as he is beyond the law, he probably don't get one. Perhaps he has got a friendly scold from the police officer.

But QMII and P. Henrik dont look with approval on, that the CP and his brother drive too fast. They must, like any other citizen, keep inside the speed limits, and it's a royal scold, if they don't.

The CP is always followed by security guards, driving behind him. The CP is probably a good driver, and this the security guards have to be, too, if they want to stay in company. One or two times the press has written that the security guards had to give up following the CP. It has simply been too dangerous.....

His brother, Prince Joachim, has the impression, too, that a car is something used for getting from one place to another, as quickly as possibly.

Under a vacation in France in august 1988 at the Château Caïx, the two princes had a car accident.

CP Frederik and P Joachim was driving with two friends, who was at vacation too. Prince Joachim was behind the steering wheel in a little Peugot 205, which belonged the the Château. On the backseat sat the CP with leiutenant Peter Heering, and on the front seat besides Prince Joachim sat leiutenant Anders Molkte-Leth.

On a small curvy road running along the river Lot, near Chäteaux Caïx, prince Joachim lost control over the car near the vilalge Luzech.

The car rolled around, landing on the roof, and CP Frederik and Peter Heering were hurled out of the car, and both landed in the river.

Prince Joachim told about the accident, that he, on the narrow road, met a car who was driving directly against him, in the middle of the road. He meant that he had to pull the car to the right, to avoid a frontal car crash.

Out in the roadside, which were close to the side of the mountain, he lost control of the car. It turned about and went across the road and into a tree. The car rolled over and CP Frederik broke a collarbone, when he was hurled out of the crushed side window. Furthermore he got a gash in his forehead, which was sewed up in the hospital. CP Frederik had to stay the nigth at the hospital, as had his two friends, who got some minor scratches and pressed ribs. P. Joachim, who was lucky with only minor scratches and a gash in his arm, could go home after the treatment at the hospital.

The French police, who naturally was investgating the crash, dismissed that there was any possibility of speedy driving. They claimed it wasn't possibly to drive more than 90 km pr hour on that particular road.

From the outside you couldn't see that CP Frederik had broken his collarbone. he had no bandage and said that it had to heal naurally. He can be tough and ignore pain.

The two friend who had been in the car, weren't confrontated with the press. They had in a way no part of the accident.

It was hinted immediately that Prince Joachim had been speeding, which he denied categorically. A newspaper alleged that the Prince had been driving 150 km pr. hour, but no, 80 km pr. hour, or maximum 90 meant P. Joachim, it wasn't possibly to drive faster on that road. The road was narrow, only 4 meters in width, and very sineous.

Many asked to the car, but it wasn't showed. The sigth of it was reserved the French police and the automechanic, who had it brougth to his workshop.

It was when the Queen and the Prince saw the car, they realized how close it could have been to a real tragedy, and that Denmark no longer would have had two princes. It was obvious that the Regents had been touched, and that the car was a total wreck - in reality a heap of crumbled scrap.

Berlingske Tidende had a little after story. They could reveal that the accident happened at the exact day, when the French premier Michel Rocard gave his car driving compatriots a telling-off. He was very tired of the Frenchmen's hazardous driving, which every year killed 10,000, costing one eigth of the GNP.

The news about the princes' car crash didn't get to Denmark at first, because the Queen and the Court had decided, that they wouldn't inform the public before they had more specific information about it.

The accident incidently happened a year after, that CP Paulos of Greece, the cousin of the princes, had a close encounter with death in a similar accident in England, where he, after a car accident, dropped 15 meters down from a bridge.

Immediately after the accident it was discussed, whether the two princes ougth to be together in a car, that they should have driven in two different cars. Normally when the royal family travels, they don't travel together, but there are no fixed rules about this. The royal family has developed some unwritten rules throughout the years, which says that the Queen and her sons never travel in the same airplane.

Prince Joachim, who is next in the line for the throne, did fly with his mother when they travelled in Australia, though, when QMII and P Henrik was on an official visit there and Prince Joachim was working on an Australian farm as a part of his agricultural training. No rule without an exception, and here was one of them.

The accident in France was in itself a quite ordinary accident, one of those which happens a lot during daily life. But it was the Crown Prince and number two in line, who was involved and this increased the interest.

The Royal Family are outside the law according to the Constitution. But this only means that it put a much heavier pressure on the Royal Family, when it comes to keeping indside the law. It's a responsibility which they have to execute themselves.

The demands, the society put to the royal family, can often be tough. The public is interested in everything the royals do, and it migth be difficult to put a clear distinction between the private sphere, which ougth to stay private, and the public sphere.

An accident like this may be a private business, but as it happens on a public road, and as the informations is public thriugh the police reports it isn't possibly to keep it from the public eye.

And it's much better to counter myths and rumours by publishing the truth.

The debate about what the Royal Family could do, or not do, to bring itself into dangerous situations went high in Denmark, too.

Everything is dangerous. It's dangerous to walk on the street, because you migth be run over by a car, but how far should the measures go to be secure, is difficult to say.

It would be an impossibly situation if the Royal family had to be totally isolated. This would not be welcomed by several of it's members. And neither would we. Especially when the Queen has been able to keep the Royal House open to change, much more than in earlier times. To demand that the royal family oughn't travel together on a holliday, appears to be a too heavy an interference in their private life (Thor: notice, though, that at the coming trip to Greenland next week, the Queen and P. Henrik don't travel in the same plane as CP Frederik and CP Mary, who arrive a day later).

[rchainho]

The monarchy in Denmark has always had an healthy interest in cars. King Frederik IX swore by his Bentleys, Crown Prince Frederik's car park includes delicious stuff like BMW M3 Evo, Lancia Delta HF Integrale and Ducati 916 - and the makeshift landrover Prince Joachim was in TV with, has beem changed to a new Discovery.

Resource: http://www.bilmagasinet.dk/biltest/?id=470

Saab 900 S - a wedding gift

more pictures of cars that Joachim and Fred drive.

http://www.blumefoto.dk/Kongelige/mo...torprinser.htm

[Lady Bluffton]

I watched segments of Danish TV's documentary on Mary Donaldson, and she constantly refers to CP Frederik as "Frederik". Curious if she was doing that for the camera, or if that's what she actually calls him all the time. I would think she does let "Fred" or "Freddie" slip every once in a while. He's such a cute guy and deserves at least one pet name.

What royal nicknames are out there for the Danish royal family (ones that the family members actually use to refer to one another)?

[Tricota]

Originally Posted by Lady Bluffton

I watched segments of Danish TV's documentary on Mary Donaldson, and she constantly refers to CP Frederik as "Frederik". Curious if she was doing that for the camera, or if that's what she actually calls him all the time. I would think she does let "Fred" or "Freddie" slip every once in a while. He's such a cute guy and deserves at least one pet name.

What royal nicknames are out there for the Danish royal family (ones that the family members actually use to refer to one another)?

Frederik is often referd to as Pingo in the press, as I believe it was his call sign when he was in the Special Forces as a frogman. Fred or Freddy is nomaly not used. To English I guess...

Joachim is sometimes called Jokke, a very clever play of words...

I am not aware of other nicknames or at least I dont remember any...

[Royal Fan]

Daisy of course! :)

[norwegianne]

Frederik is called Frede in the papers, from time to time. Queen Anne-Marie stated in the interview that this was not a family nickname, so I don't think it's odd that Mary isn't using it.

You can also check out the thread in Royal Chit Chat: http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ames-8095.html to see if there are something mentioned there?

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by Lady Bluffton

I watched segments of Danish TV's documentary on Mary Donaldson, and she constantly refers to CP Frederik as "Frederik". Curious if she was doing that for the camera, or if that's what she actually calls him all the time. I would think she does let "Fred" or "Freddie" slip every once in a while. He's such a cute guy and deserves at least one pet name.

My husband's name is Alexander and I never ever call him Alex or Sascha or another short form of his name. While we of course have amounts of other private names. So for me it is absolute plausible that CP Mary calls her husband only Frederick or HRH or "The Crown Prince" in public while using complete different pet names in private. It may even depend on which name he was introduced to her or introduced himself. If he was introduced, they probably called him Frederick (out of respect, surely).

[LadyK]

To me, I can't imagine Mary calling Frederik "His Royal Highness" or "Crown Prince," at least not when they are alone. They are so close and in love, and calling him HRH seems so stilted and formal.