Summary of articles in Billed Bladet #09, 2023.
Written by the indomitable Ulrik Ulriksen.
M&F started out at Taj Mahal in 30 degrees C - about 25 degrees warmer than back in DK.
Wearing a shirt from Etro Mary and Frederik were taken for a tour of the mausoleum that was completed in 1653 by Shah Jahan. Mary was busy snapping away with her phone.
Then it was off for another ceremony in New Delhi, where M&F showed their respect at the memorial for Mahatma Ghandi. It is in fact 70 years ago that he was murdered.
Having been issued white slippers for the occasion M&F laid down a wreath and spread rose-petals at the memorial.
M&F also opened a Danish-Indian cultural event, an exhibition called Silver Treasures from Denmark and India, at the Indian National Museum. That involved a lighting of lamps ceremony, which traditionally is supposed to bring luck.
The exhibition contains a mix of Danish silverware as examples of typical Danish craftsmanship and similar Indian silverware. (*)
While in New Delhi M&F also visited the magnificent and more than 1.000 year old Agra Fort, also known as The Red Fort.
Here M&F also snapped away, presumably for the benefit of their children as they have explained that they usually show pics and tell about what they see on their travels.
As is customary the Danish delegation hosted a gala dinner at Hotel Maurya, for their Indian hosts as well as representatives of Danes living in India. With M&F of course being in the forefront.
Mary wearing a dress by Søren le Schmidt as well as large earrings (in Indian style as far as I can tell) as jasmin flowers in her hair. Her hair was done by Søren Hedegaard, who must have accompanied her on the trip.
The open air dinner held around 400 guests, many being representatives of 38 Danish companies who took part in the visit as well as government ministers.
One of the songs played was a jazz version of a favorite of Mary: Solen er så rød, mor - The son is so red, mother.
It's a favorite of mine as well. On the face of it it's a song, a lullaby, about the reflections a little boy is doing around bedtime. But the real meaning may be more somber though: Is the boy going to sleep? Or is he dying? It's really up to what you think and how you interpret the lyrics. Hence why it is so often used at funerals for children.
I'm not surprised Mary likes it and it shows how advanced her mastery of Danish really is.
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(*) The trade relations between DK and India goes back to the 1600s, where DK, as with most major European merchant nations, established two trading posts in India, which grew into cities. IIRC these trading posts were still in place when the battle of Plassey took place. At that battle the Mogul dynasty was defeated by the British and that led to India being gradually colonized by UK. The Mogul dynasty was supported by the French. It's interesting to speculate that had UK lost that battle, India could have fallen into the French sphere of influence and as such French might still be the lingua franca today.
The Great Indian Mutiny started in 1856. One of the things that encouraged the rebels was a prophecy that foretold that the British rule would fall 100 years after the battle of Plassey.
Anyway, around the time where UK took control of India there really was no room for trading posts from other nations, so they were either soon abandoned, quietly taken over by the British or bought out and that's what happened to the Danish posts as well.
But there are still traces of them in India and without animosity from India, because they were trading posts. DK, like most other European nations did not have the resources in colonizing even parts of India, nor any political interests for that matter. But Britain was at the time in a very real struggle with France for dominance. And during that struggle Danish merchant ships quietly sailed with goods and made a very decent profit, including sailing goods to both France and UK... - Something both sides saw the benefit of, so Danish ships were left alone all through basically most of the 1700s.
(**)
This is my favorite version of the song. A metal-version, which I think covers both sides of the song.
https://vimeo.com/137247122
A great team!
