Christening of Prince Henrik: July 26, 2009


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I believe it's natural.As royals,they would have to learn English sooner or later,so why not from the beginning.
Christian is my love for today.HA!
 
I don't know for sure, but it would make sense for the children to learn English as well as Danish, especially since their mother's family all speak English. It would be sad if they couldn't communicate with their grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I love this photo:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/9416/10445264.jpg
It looks like Christian is dancing.

:ROFLMAO: That is a great photo!

I assume Mary and Frederik do speak English to their children as well as Danish, but the Donaldsons do; they said in an interview that they speak a mixture of English and childhood Danish to Christian, and that he often comes out with English words when speaking...although this was quite a while back, I don't know if they still do.
 
As we can see in the above video,Frederick spoke English to his son.It just came out of his mouth,automatically!Which probably means that English is the language they most often use.
 
I just noticed that none of the Swedish family attended.They are supposed to be relatives and Sweden is so close to Denmark,isn't that weird?

Yes they are close - Queen Margrethe is a first cousin to the King of Sweden; her mother Ingrid and his father, Gustaf VI Adolf, were siblings. So Joachim and Frederik are second cousins to Victoria, Carl Philip and Madeleine. But I'd imagine none of them would be there unless one of them was a godparent or something. And Victoria is already a godmother of 12.
 
Thanks for pointing this out,Kthomas306.Told you,Christian has been very naughty today.But this means that they speak English or maybe,they raise them as bilingual (English & Danish).Does anyone know for sure?

In an interview published this year Mary said that they should speak English with Christian all the time now, but that they find it very hard with everything around them happening in Danish, but we're getting a bit off-topic for this thread, so if you have any more questions for me, PM me and I'll see if I can dig the magazine out.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25840172-1702,00.html?from=public_rss
 
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Princess Marie's Lady-in-Waiting Marianne Engel attended the christening today:

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww177/sgl_blog/05.jpg

Here are some photos of the guests:
Billedserie: Prinsedåb i Møgeltønder

Bt.dk is reporting that Prince Henrik (the Queen's consort, not the baby) has left the christening party early. The article doesn't give a reason, but he does have an engagement tomorrow, so he is probably going home to get some rest. The article also talks about the menu at the party, and mentions that there was a "prince of a cake, specially created for the event".

http://www.bt.dk/royale/prins-henrik-tog-tidligt-hjem
 
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Just finished watching it, was such a nice ceremony. I loved the bit when all the kids came up not sure if that's a tradition but I thought it was a nice touch.
 
I like the name, but it's hard to get used to - when I hear Prince Henrik, I think immediately of the Queen's husband, which makes posts like this one sound pretty funny:

It was so tender that little Prince Henrik was smiling when the priest was putting water on his head...but now he's crying!!!

:lol:
 
Just finished watching it, was such a nice ceremony. I loved the bit when all the kids came up not sure if that's a tradition but I thought it was a nice touch.

Yes that is very common to do in Denmark to invite the children up
 
Very nice pics. And Mary is one of Henrik's godmothers :flowers:
So, they used the father's name and the grandparent's too (Henrik and Alain) but why Carl? A name they like?
 
This may have been to honor Count Carl Bernadotte, who is related to the DRF (I think). He is in his nineties, and attended today's ceremony. I also went back through this thread, and it has been stated by Stefan that Carl is the Danish version of the name Charles. Charles is Marie's brother, and one of the godparents.
 
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I just noticed that none of the Swedish family attended.They are supposed to be relatives and Sweden is so close to Denmark,isn't that weird?

It did. Queen Ingrids brother attended with his wife.

Btw the name Carl is in the royal family (the first Bernadotte king was named Carl and since Marie is from France, it might not be a coincidence with that name.
And ofc her brother is named Charles
 
I like the name but I didn't think they would have chosen Henrik for a first name.

Nor did I, and I think it's a bad idea!
My objection is that it'll be confusing with two Princes Henrik! The RF might argue that there won't be any mix-up, because Henrik the Elder officially is referred to as 'Prinsgemalen' (the prince consort). There's just one minor detail: We - the Danish people - don't call him 'Prinsgemalen', which sounds stuffy in Danish ears! We refer to him as Prince Henrik!

Secondly, Henrik is a also a bad idea because the Prince Henrik (still the Elder) is not that popular! I won't say that he is unpopular either, IMO his public standing is best described as being tolerated!

Naming a grandchild after him might boost his ego, but it won't boost his popularity! Now try telling that to the Danish Royal Family :nonono: !

I never thought i'd see Carl as a middle
name for a royal child.

It lurked in the back of my mind, but I eventually dismissed it. Wrong again :rolleyes:! A Danish newspaper suggest that it could be a reference to the Swedish Bernadottes, but there are probably other reasons, like the French translation Charles.

Naming him after Prince Carl, the later King Haakon VII of Norway seems a bit far fetched, again IMO :flowers:!

Viv
 
The announcement of the baby's name is now on the royal family's website:
Kongehuset - Aktuelt - Nyheder

Why are Joachim's children HH,and the other members of the family HRH?

Becuase only children of a reigning monarc are entitles to the HRH tittle. Thats why Joachims children are titled HH becuase Joachim is not going to be a king.
Frederiks children are titled HRH because Frederik is going to be a king.
 
Becuase only children of a reigning monarc are entitles to the HRH tittle. Thats why Joachims children are titled HH becuase Joachim is not going to be a king.
Frederiks children are titled HRH because Frederik is going to be a king.

If you say so....why are the duke's of York daughters titled HRH as he is not going to be a king?
 
nice new names for the prince. i'm happy they chose to honour henrik. marie looked very lovely with the curls.
 
:previous:

Every country has its own laws and traditions.
In Britain, all children and male-line grandchildren of the Monarch are entitled to the style of HRH.
In Denmark, only the children of the Monarch and the Heir Apparent are entitled to the HRH style.
In Norway, only one of Crown Prince Haakon’s children (his Heir and future Queen Ingrid Alexandra) is HRH. Sverre Magnus, Haakon’s son (and therefore, the son of the future Monarch) is only a HH.
 
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Then I am guessing this baby should be referred to as Prince Henrik II to avoid any confusion? Right?
 
Then I am guessing this baby should be referred to as Prince Henrik II to avoid any confusion? Right?

California, it's an American custom! I cannot speak for the other European countries, but we are not familiar with this numbering practise in Denmark. You could add senior or junior, though, if they were father and son!

Viv
 
Perhaps they will call him Henri instead of Henrik? I'm sure that the family will have a nickname for him. It will be easy to distinguish the two in written media, especially if they often use the "prinsgemalen" title for Prince Henrik.

Here is an article and photo of Marie's brothers leaving the reception at Schackenborg:
http://www.bt.dk/royale/daabsgaester-gik-glade-hjem

They said that they had a wonderful time at the party. The article also interviewed another guest who said that Joachim and Marie are very relaxed parents, and this has been a positive thing for the baby. The article said that the little prince was awake during the reception, and that Marie chose the flowers for the church herself.

And here is a link to an article that talks about how the royal guests (except for the Queen and Prince Henrik, Felix and Nikolai, and Joachim, Marie, and the baby) arrived together in a bus. They all took the 56 minute journey from Grasten to Schackenborg together. It says that Prince Christian was the first one off the bus.

http://www.seoghoer.dk/Nyheder/Royalt/kongelig bustur.aspx
 
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Perhaps they will use one of his other names (Carl or Alain) in everyday life, to avoid confusion with the elder Henrik.

In any case, I doubt there will be much confusion: the Prince and Princess of Asturias named their second daughter Sofia, after Queen Sofia, and I can't see many people confusing the two.
 
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Does anyone have a picture of Caroline Heering? I haven't seen any yet. Thanks.
 
About the name, Henrik Carl Joachim Alain....Well I like it, but I didn't expect another Henrik...I was thinking another traditional but unusual name like Felix or Nikolai...but maybe that's where Joachim went wrong with his first marriage, not sticking to traditions and letting his wife make all the important decisions...So, it's back to traditional names with his second wife and she is compliant...and Henrik is a good idea for a first name because it reinforces the French ties to the Danish monarchy, Joachim's dad is French and Marie is honouring her father-in-law which is emphasising those ties...There probably will be confusion between the Henrik's but I think J & M would have thought of that and already have a nickname in mind to distinguish him from his grandfather...I was thinking Prince Henri (on-ree, like the French) or Prince Harry (like the English Prince Henry/Harry) or maybe Prince Carl...they wanted their son to have Henrik as a first name for honouring and official purposes (like if he ever becomes King Henrik) but always had the intention of calling him Carl...

So the name debate continues... ;)
 
I was a little disappointed in the clothing worn by the ladies. It seemed rather colorless, even if they wanted to simplify this christening. It would have been a good opportunity to wear color (even if in simple outfits) just to celebrate this wonderful event and the lovely summer weather.
 
California, it's an American custom! I cannot speak for the other European countries, but we are not familiar with this numbering practise in Denmark. You could add senior or junior, though, if they were father and son!

Viv

In English, "II" is normally used for a boy named after his uncle or grandfather. If he's named for his father, he'd be called, "Jr."

If the son, father, and grandfather all had the same names, the son would be "III." It goes on IV, V, etc.

The tradition here is that men use a suffix only if all their names are identical to their father's (or uncle or grandfather). That's why George W. Bush isn't a "junior"-- his father is George H. W. Bush. So, little Henrik wouldn't be "junior" or a "II."

(In proper form, "Sr." is used only by the widow of the father, never by the man himself. For example, after her husband died, Jackie Kennedy was "Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Sr.")

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know!

Short version: The media here would probably call him Henrik II or Henrik Jr. regardless of the proper form!
 
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