Danes Welcome Vietnamese President

The Danish Royal Family today welcomed the President and First Lady of Vietnam to Copenhagen for a three-day state visit.

President Truong Tan Sang and his wife, Mrs Mai Thi Hanh, were greeted upon arrival at Kastrup Airport by Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik, along with the Crown Prince Couple, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, and Princess Benedikte. It seems that Princess Benedikte missed the memo to wear blue – all of the ladies present were wearing varying shades of blue, including the First Lady in a traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai. 

After inspecting a guard of honour, the official party made their way to Fredensborg Palace where Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik, President Troung and First Lady Mai posed for official photographs. The President then headed over to the Hermitage Palace for a business lunch with Crown Prince Frederik and representatives of the forty Vietnamese companies participating in the visit.

Meanwhile, Crown Princess Mary hosted a luncheon for the First Lady at Amalienborg, before the two women paid a visit to the ‘Bumblebee’ kindergarten in Hellerup. The kindergarten is one of the education centres in Denmark which uses the ‘Free From Bullying’ project The Mary Foundation introduced to encourage social inclusion.

In the evening, the Queen hosted a gala dinner at Fredensborg Palace, to celebrate the long-standing bilateral relations between the two nations. The guests, which included Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and members of the Vietnamese delegation, were provided a dinner of dried cod mousse, lemon chicken, pork neck with seasonal vegetables and prawn rice salad.

The visit will finish on September 20.

Filed under Denmark, Germany
Tagged Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Margrethe II of Denmark, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess Marie of Denmark, Vietnam.