Audiences with Margrethe & the Political Role of the Danish Monarch: 2004 - 2023

[Australian]

Is it true that any member of the danish public can request a meeting or audience with Queen Margrethe? I read this in a book. Is it true?

 

[H.M. Margrethe]

Is it true that any member of the danish public can request a meeting or audience with Queen Margrethe? I read this in a book. Is it true?

Yes it is tru that we are abel to do that.

 

[Australian]

i think thats great, they are not hidden from the people like other royal families, do any other royal families allow that?

 

[Vicomtesse]

How easy is it to book an appointment with Margrethe? Can you do it with other members of the royal family or only Margrethe? Do you have to tell someone in advance what you want to talk with Margrethe about?

 

[Dianedk]

How easy is it to book an appointment with Margrethe? Can you do it with other members of the royal family or only Margrethe? Do you have to tell someone in advance what you want to talk with Margrethe about?

I don't really know, but I I'm quite sure that you have to tell someone from her staff why you want to see her...

 

[paulette]

The Danish queen grants an audience with any ordinary people but you have to see first the persons who are working in the Royal Court (e.g. staff or whoever are assigned) so that one can book for an appointment.

But I think you can't just have an appointment with the queen if you have no valid reasons of doing so.

 

[DKgirls]

We think you'll need a reason as well......

But many people are invited - when you've been married for a certant amount of years(60 or so), you're invited to meet her and so!

 

[Lasse Pedersen]

Roughly every fortnight, Her Majesty invites her subjects to meet her during her socalled 'public audiences' at Christiansborg Palace. It is an open event, and any Dane can show up and request to a member of the royal court that he be granted a meeting with The Queen. This is granted if the seeking has a valid reason. Valid reasons could be to give Her Majesty one's thanks for a medal or an order, for a visit paid by The Queen, for a letter of congratulation etc. Another valid reason is to thank The Queen for an appointment (Her Majesty appoints judges, prosecutors, bishops and many other) or to say farewell after having been in The Queen's service. Thus, one cannot be granted an audience with The Queen without valid reason. If this were the case, hundreds would want to meet Her Majesty every time!

A relative of mine, who died before I was born, went to thank The Queen for a medal she had received for 40 years of service. According to my still living relatives, she described The Queen as pleasant to talk with!

/Lasse Pedersen

 

[Australian]

Thanks for the information Lasse, I think it's a good idea to have such an opportunity in place. Does any other royal houses do this as well?

 

[flcty]

Roughly every fortnight, Her Majesty invites her subjects to meet her during her socalled 'public audiences' at Christiansborg Palace. It is an open event, and any Dane can show up and request to a member of the royal court that he be granted a meeting with The Queen. This is granted if the seeking has a valid reason. Valid reasons could be to give Her Majesty one's thanks for a medal or an order, for a visit paid by The Queen, for a letter of congratulation etc. Another valid reason is to thank The Queen for an appointment (Her Majesty appoints judges, prosecutors, bishops and many other) or to say farewell after having been in The Queen's service. Thus, one cannot be granted an audience with The Queen without valid reason. If this were the case, hundreds would want to meet Her Majesty every time!

A relative of mine, who died before I was born, went to thank The Queen for a medal she had received for 40 years of service. According to my still living relatives, she described The Queen as pleasant to talk with!

/Lasse Pedersen

Thats why i like the Danish royal family. Very modern; has a sense of humour (if anyone has read something about mary you would know what I'm talking about when a group of dancers performed infront of Queen Margarthe II and apprantly farted, instead of making a scene QMII just laughed it off); looking at tender photos with their kids [Fred + Christian; (before divorce) Alex. Joachim + the kids]...i can't describe it but i will say this it is very easy to fall in love/like this family (i hope that didn't sound to cheesy ). You could say that my fascination into the Danish family would have to be because (a) My fave. subject at school is history (b) the connection Australia has with Mary, every now and then they'll (the press) will publish something about CP Mary or Christian and i read a lot of bks, newspapers and of course when i have nothing to do i read my mums magazines.

 

[Muhler]

I guess we can put this here.

One of the duties of the Monarch in particular are the public audiences, held every alternate Monday, where in principle anyone can walk in from the street and meet with the Majesty.

In Billed Bladet #30, 2011 historian Jon Bloch Skipper explains to us how you can have an audience with QMII. - Or rather hope for an audience.

You arrive at Christiansborg (the Parliament) and tell an adjutant what your purpose is. Your name and purpose is noted on a list.
As there usually are many more applying for an audience than the Queen has time for, QMII will prioritize the applicants on the list.
The applicants are recieved, usually in order of rank or the purpose,

Often the highest priority go to those who wish to thank the Majesty for an order or appointment or for the Queen attending some event. - That is considered common curtesy and the proper thing to do, but you are not obliged to thank the Majesty.

The Cabinet Secretary lead those who seek an audience to the audience chamber, where you will have a personal conversation with QMII.
Neat clothing and white gloves are mandatory if you seek an audience.

The above is a public audience. A private audience is also a personal meeting with the Monarch, but here you are invited.

 

[Muhler]

The general election this Thursday is over. 99.5 % of the votes have been counted and we are going to have a new government and incidentally the first female Prime Minister.
- It sure is a complicated Parliament! The negotiations and compromises in the future are going to be... interesting.
I predict we will have a new general election in two, two and a half year max.

Anyway, the current Prime Minister will seek an audience with QMII tomorrow friday at 11.00, where he will inform Her Majesty of the results of the election and that the government as such will resign. At the same time he will call for a "Queen-round".
That means that all the party leaders will take turn in having an audience with the Queen and they will tell her, who they point to as the new prime minister. As there is a majority for the leader of the Social Democrats, Helle Thorning, the Queen will then ask her to form a new government.
When the ministers have been selected, they will go to the Queen again for approval. That will of course be granted and the new gvernment will be appointed and effective once the proper documents have been signed.
The new ministers will then take over from the old ministers and the new government can start to govern.

 

[gerry]

The general election this Thursday is over. 99.5 % of the votes have been counted and we are going to have a new government and incidentally the first female Prime Minister.
- It sure is a complicated Parliament! The negotiations and compromises in the future are going to be... interesting.
I predict we will have a new general election in two, two and a half year max.

Anyway, the current Prime Minister will seek an audience with QMII tomorrow friday at 11.00, where he will inform Her Majesty of the results of the election and that the government as such will resign. At the same time he will call for a "Queen-round".
That means that all the party leaders will take turn in having an audience with the Queen and they will tell her, who they point to as the new prime minister. As there is a majority for the leader of the Social Democrats, Helle Thorning, the Queen will then ask her to form a new government.
When the ministers have been selected, they will go to the Queen again for approval. That will of course be granted and the new gvernment will be appointed and effective once the proper documents have been signed.
The new ministers will then take over from the old ministers and the new government can start to govern.

and how are you feeling about having Denmark's first female prime minister?

 

[Muhler]

and how are you feeling about having Denmark's first female prime minister?

I have no problems with female PM's.
It's the politics I'm worried about.
Helle Thorning is facing a major challenge when it comes to implementing the polictics she stands for.
Had I voted for her I would be seriously worried about her even being able to keep her most crucial promises to the voters, simply because she's dependent on a party that does support her, but does not want to support her economic and employment benefit politics. How she's going to solve that problem I honestly don't know. That's what is going to be interesting.
As it is I believe she will be forced to continue more or less the same economic politics, in direct contrast to what the opposition parties, let alone their voters want.
I don't envy her at all!

 

[Nordic]

Had I voted for her I would be seriously worried about her even being able to keep her most crucial promises to the voters, simply because she's dependent on a party that does support her, but does not want to support her economic and employment benefit politics. How she's going to solve that problem I honestly don't know. That's what is going to be interesting.

Have I got this right: The former Prime Minister Rasmussen's party got most votes, but are out of the government. The Social democrats got less votes, and had the worst result in more than a hundred years, are now winners and has the next Prime Minister of DK?

And a communist party got three times more people in than before... ?

 

[Muhler]

Have I got this right: The former Prime Minister Rasmussen's party got most votes, but are out of the government. The Social democrats got less votes, and had the worst result in more than a hundred years, are now winners and has the next Prime Minister of DK?

And a communist party got three times more people in than before... ?

You've got that right.
The former government lost because one of the two coalition partners, the Conservatives had a disastrous election.
The Social Democrats just held their ground, but it was still the worst result since 1906. Their coaltion partner went back. But the opposition won, because their support parties, the extreme left, Unity List and the Radicals, which is a centre-liberal party, had a great election. - There is just one little problem; the Radicals and the Unity List represent very different agendas indeed, and reaching any political compromise involving those two parties is going to be a major challenge for the new PM!
It was a very cose election! The opposition won with three mandates from a total of 179.

 

[Nordic]

There is just one little problem; the Radicals and the Unity List represent very different agendas indeed, and reaching any political compromise involving those two parties is going to be a major challenge for the new PM!
It was a very cose election! The opposition won with three mandates from a total of 179.

Thanks Muhler.

Where I am, we have a new coalition government formed by the National Coalition Party (blue/right wing), the Social Democratic Party, the Left Alliance (left of SDP), the Swedish People's Party in Finland, the Greens and the Christian Democratic Party. OT, sorry.

Frederik also attended the audience today.

 

[Muhler]

Frederik also attended the audience today.

Interesting. His practical education continues.

The various parties have now been through the socalled "Queen round", where they point to, who they prefer as the new PM.
Based on that the leader of the opposition, Helle Thorning, has been appointed "Royal Investigator" by QMII - on recommendation by the former PM, who still advise the Queen, and she is also advised by her Cabinet Secretary, who is QMII's legal and political advisor.
The job of the Royal Investigator, is to explore the various alternatives for forming a new government, based on votes. The constellation of Social Democrats and the Socialist Peoples Party is a given thing, but they may now include a third party, the Radicals, in the new government. The far left Unity List is not considered a serious contender for a place in a government.
That means that Helle Thorning has to conduct some political negotiations and explore the options for compromise and adjust the political basis for the new government, based on the compromises that are reached.
That may take several day, perhaps even a week.

Had there been a clear majority, (90+ mandates) consisting of the Social Democrats, the Socialist Peoples Party and the Unity List, QMII would no doubt have encouraged Helle Thorning to become Prime Minister and form a new government right away.

After ten years we are actually back to normal in Danish politics, I.e. broad compromises in all sorts of party political constellations.
(Something akin to Finnish politics, Nordic ).

FYI, there are eight parties in the Danish Parliament right now.

 

[nwinther]

After ten years we are actually back to normal in Danish politics, I.e. broad compromises in all sorts of party political constellations.

When was that ever the norm?

 

[Muhler]

When was that ever the norm?

In the 80's for sure!
Also the 70's. Remember the Anker Jørgensen governments?

We are back to normal. I.e. the Radicals are in charge....

 

[Muhler]

A Florian Lauer asks in the Q&A in Billed Bladet #39, 2011, how he can obtain QMII's autograph.

Jon Bloch Skipper repiles that this will be very difficult indeed, QMII do not like idol worship! For that reason alone it's most unlikely she would ever give an autograph.
She basically only use her signature in connection with her job and in the daily correspondance, so if you want QMII's signature, you can write a letter to her, that is considered so meaningful/important that she will respond in person.

 

[Nordic]

A question about the much discussed order given to the King of Bahrain earlier this year:

There has been several articles in the Danish press, where Amnesty International and some of the parties think, that the Queen should demand the order back from the King. Could she actually do it? Has it ever been done?


OT, sorry. I don't know where to put this.

 

[Muhler]

A question about the much discussed order given to the King of Bahrain earlier this year:

There has been several articles in the Danish press, where Amnesty International and some of the parties think the Queen should demand the order back from the King. Could she actually do it? Has it ever been done?


OT, sorry. I don't know where to put this.

Yes, she can. And it has been done before.
IIRC the court or rather the Danish State demanded the Order of the Elephant back from Nicolae Ceaușescu shortly before he and his wife were executed. I believe the order was lost however.

The King of Bahrain recieved the second highest Danish order, the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog. And in view of recent events in Bahrain, not least that a Danish citizen of Bahrani desent has been sentenced to life in prison for protesting against the regime and with the fact that a new governemt is expected to be formed within a few days, it is not unlikely that the court on behalf of the Foreign Ministry will demand the order returned as one way of expressing displeasure.

ADDED: QMII is the Lord of the Orders (Ordensherre). As such she can and will demand orders returned from recipients who are considered unworthy of keeping the order. That has happened fairly often with minor orders, like Knights of Dannebrog and so on.

 

[Nordic]

QMII is the Lord of the Orders (Ordensherre). As such she can and will demand orders returned from recipients who are considered unworthy of keeping the order. ,

Thanks Muhler.
So, is it up to her to inform the UM that she intends to demand it back, and if she doesn't he keeps it? Or can the ministry advice her that she ought to ask for it back?

 

[Muhler]

Thanks Muhler.
So, is it up to her to inform the UM that she intends to demand it back, and if she doesn't he keeps it? Or can the ministry advice her that she ought to ask for it back?

It's a political question. And a delicate one at that, considering the citizen who is in prison and the general political situation in that area at present.
Even though QMII can act on her own accord, I find it very unlikely that she would, without being advised by the Foreign Ministry.
Whatever QMII does now, in this respect, will be on behalf of the Danish government. - Not least in the light of the previous government letting her down earlier this year, so that she took the rap, for presenting the order to the King of Bahrain.

If the King of Bahrain will not return the order, there is little that can be done about it. Except that the court will probably not have anything to do with the court in Bahrain. Not returning the order if requested is somewhat outside the diplomatic rules, especially if you, as a new monarchy, wish to be taken seriously.



Lets have some more protocol, garnished with a little political drama.

As you may recall we had a general election two weeks ago here in DK and the political negotiations regarding forming a new government are almost complete. It is expected the government and its political manifesto if you will, will be presented tomorrow, Sunday or Monday at the very latest.

What happens is that the future PM, Helle Thorning will go to the Queen and inform her that she has the basis for a new government with herself as Prime Minister, is that okay? QMII will naturally approve and ask her to form the new government.
The ministers will then be presented formally to Her Majesty, partly to greet their head of state, but actually also to be approved. QMII will again naturally approve all of them.

And now we come to the political drama.
PET, the Police Intelligence Service, run a check on all newly elected members of the Parliament. They were incidentally all approved. However, if PET had found something "interesting" on a new member, it would have been up the Presidium of the Parliament, headed by the Chairman of the Parliament to decide, whether that person would be worthy to be a member of the Parliament.

However, potential new ministers also go through a more thorough security check by PET. Not least those who are destined for senior posts.
Formally PET is requested to do so by the head of the department (a very senior civil servant!) in Statsministeriet, the PM's office. In reality it is done on behalf of the future PM, Helle Thorning. Who has had a list with names since before the election.
What happened today was that a very senior politician, actually Helle Thorning's political right hand man, resigned from what would have been the post as future Minister of Finance/Treasury, because of a report from PET.
That is one of the five most senior posts in the government and as far as it is known, something like this has only happened once before.
What happened was that PET made an in depth (they actually write such procedures on their homepage, probably in English as well) investigation of the politician in question. They made a report and delivered it to the head of department in Statsministeriet, in reality Helle Thorning, the future PM. And something in that report led the politician to be rejected.
Formally the politician was contacted by the head of department in Statsministeriet and told about the report. He then contacted Helle Thorning and resigned as candidate for any post in the government and he has now become a back bencher. Helle Thorning would of course already know about the report and she accepted his resignation.
She could have chosen to overrule the report from PET and appoint him to Minister of Finance anyway, but for whatever reason she didn't. That happened at the other case I mentioned above. More on that later.

The reason for the politician resigning is baffling and it has caused raised eyebrows all the place! - He met with a senior Bandidos biker, who is a heavy criminal, at a cafe in May where they discussed a case about child costudy....
All commentators are in agreement. That simply cannot be the whole reason! For a politician to meet a known criminal at a public place once, and in his own constituency, that cannot be reason enough to sack him. Not a politician on such a high level. - So here in DK, those of us who are interested in politics await with anticipation what else may surface.

The previous case I mentioned was from 1977 or 1981. And the PM back then chose to overrule the report and appoint the politician, Ole Espersen, to Minister of Justice (and incidentally also the ultimate head of PET). However, certain informations were kept away from him. An interesting situation, where the head of the department in the Minstry of Justice kept information away from his boss, the Minister of Justice!
The reason for him not getting a higher security clearance was that he was apparantly being groomed by KGB. - Talking to a criminal on a public cafe seems to be on a more trival level, so.....

Did any of you get this far? Or did you fall asleep?

 

[gerry]

Muhler, you underestimate your devoted readers who always tune in for your wise words! No political leader wants to be embarrassed so that the investigations you discuss are a necessary part of public life. It will indeed be interesting to discover what your minister has done but other similar examples spring to mind. Remember the German minister of defence who was discovered (after being sworn in, so that the Germans are apparently less thorough than you Danish!) to have plagiarized his doctoral thesis! Please keep us informed!

 

[Muhler]

Muhler, you underestimate your devoted readers who always tune in for your wise words! No political leader wants to be embarrassed so that the investigations you discuss are a necessary part of public life. It will indeed be interesting to discover what your minister has done but other similar examples spring to mind. Remember the German minister of defence who was discovered (after being sworn in, so that the Germans are apparently less thorough than you Danish!) to have plagiarized his doctoral thesis! Please keep us informed!

You are most kind, Gerry
I actually don't remember the German minister of defence. I guess that was the end of his political career?

More is emerging about the politician here in DK. The politician is Henrik Sass. A Social Democrat and in many ways what the party, which has it's root in the working class needs, as he genuinely came from the working class.
He is also a very outspoken man with controversial opinions, who has been involved in the internal fighting in the party. Danish readers in partcular will know that you have to watch your back if you are an enemy of the Nyrup and Lykketoft wings! And while they were in charge, Henrik Sass was sidelined.
And this is where we come to the interesting bit. The Social Democrats have their own information network, believe me! - PET wouldn't even have had to call the local police in the town of Køge, where Henrik Sass' constituency is located (they would actually have known about him for years), they could just have called one of his enemies among the Social Democrats.
The soon to be Prime Minister, Helle Thorning, kept Henrik Sass, as her closest advisor and associate, even though she would no doubt have been warned against him and been told about him, via the internal channels within the party. That means her judgement is put in question, so she had to sack him. More about that later.

Now, Ekstra Bladet, being a tabloid, still have a few very competent investigative journalists, and they have good contacts within the criminal world as well as the police and they are digging out more about Henrik Sass. He has remained a very close friend with a local former party chairman, who is involved in some dirt and who is currently charged with bribery. Apart from that the former chairman, Kamp, also associate known local criminals (like Bandido bikers). On top of that Henrik Sass hangs out in local bars which are also frequented by local criminals and others who didn't go to Sunday school. - That's the environment he came from, so in a sense it's natural. But for a Minister of Finance?
PET appears to have concluded that Henrik Sass was a security risk in the sense that his associations made him open to blackmail.
It still seems slightly trivial to me, so I guess there is more to come.

Henrik Sass incidentally can choose to publish the report from PET as it hardly contains state secrets if he really has only made one misjudgement, as he claims.

Back to Helle Thorning and her predicament.
The report was officially handed over to the head of department of Statsministeriet (the PM's office). The heads of departments in particular, and the ministerial civil servants in general are universally respected across the party lines for their very high level of integrity.
And now I speculate: If Helle Thorning's future head of department and the most senior civil servant, PET report in hand, advise her to get rid of Henrik Sass, she's is certainly intelligent enough to follow that advise! - Apparantly that decision was made Wednesday and Thursday Henrik Sass "decided" to step back, after having spoken to the head of the department.
It is after all the most important job of the heads of the departments (Sir Humphrey Appleby types with integrity) to advise and protect their ministers.

 

[gerry]

The Sir Humphreys of the world are first and foremost concerned with themselves, I think, so it behooves them to ensure their ministers will do them proud! Your new prime minister sounds well advised and in good hands! The German minister of defence I wrote of is Karl-Theodor zur Guttenberg, a nobleman who did not behave as such. Here is a link to his farewell concert, a perk of the job you might enjoy!
bookofjoe: Disgraced German Minister of Defense Guttenberg transfers power while military band plays "Smoke On The Water"

 

[Muhler]

The Sir Humphreys of the world are first and foremost concerned with themselves, I think, so it behooves them to ensure their ministers will do them proud! Your new prime minister sounds well advised and in good hands! The German minister of defence I wrote of is Karl-Theodor zur Guttenberg, a nobleman who did not behave as such. Here is a link to his farewell concert, a perk of the job you might enjoy!
bookofjoe: Disgraced German Minister of Defense Guttenberg transfers power while military band plays "Smoke On The Water"

I did! I fully enjoyed that one. Thanks, Gerry.
Either he has got a great sense of self irony or he (like me) just like that song. (*)

In the meantime here in the homely duck pond (idiom), Henrik Sass is really getting the knife! If I ever wanted to go into politics, I'm certainly discouraged now!
Two prominent Social Democrats have stated there must something more in this. No keeping a low profile for the benefit of their party leader, much better brandishing the daggers.
One of the politicians is Ole Espersen, whom I mentioned in my previous posts as being groomed by KGB and that PET on that basis delivered a report that advised against him becoming Minister of Justice. That is in fact not correct, that was something the news agency Ritzau had got wrong.
PET kept an eye on Ole Espersen long before he was a candidate for that post and they had also reported about him to the then PM. It was on basis of Ole Espersen having met KGB agents that he was not cleared for a higher level of security, and that led to his head of department keeping back information from him.
Ole Espersen was well aware of that and accepted that before he even came into play as Minister of Justice.
But Ole Espersen has today basically stated that the Henrik Sass affair is worse! Okay.... The long knives are out!

This is one of the instances where I find it really fortunate that the Danish Monarch only has a constitutional role, well above party politics.
QMII is also very well informed, both because she is an avid reader of papers and through her advisors, about many of the politicians she meet with frequently.
It must sometimes be odd for her to stand there at say New Years Courts and greet certain politicians with a smile, knowing perfectly well that they are utterly ruthless backstappers.

(*) For Danish members: You've not experienced anything until you've heard that song exposed to Susi & Leo! - But It's a good idea to be half drunk first....

 

[Muhler]

Finally a new government!

Regering på vej - det skal der ske i dag - dr.dk/Nyheder/Temaer/Valg

This article explains today's procedure.

1) The Royal Investigator, Helle Thorning, will seek an audience with QMII today Sunday. Where she will inform Her Majesty that she is now ready to form a government.

2) The former Prime Minister, Lars Løkke, who since the general election was called five weeks ago has acted as an administrative PM, is summoned by QMII, so that she can be advised by him.
QMII has her own advisors but the PM (acting or effective) is still her most important advisor.
Lars Løkke will of course advise the Queen to request Helle Thorning to form a new government. - Anything else would be huge sensation!

3) Helle Thorning meets QMII a second time. QMII gives her approval to Helle Thorning to form a new government.

- All of the above is expected to take place within one hour.

4) QMII will then send a written request to Helle Thorning about forming a new government.
When Helle Thorning has signed that document, she is officially Prime Minister of Denmark. (*)
The acting Prime Minster, Lars Løkke, is at that same moment relieved of duty.

- Tomorrow the new ministers will be presented to QMII and after that to the press at Amalienborg Square.

- Tuesday, the Parliament will open after the summer holiday and Helle Thorning will give her first speech as Prime Minister.

(*) ADDED: TV2 informs us that Helle Thorning's signature on this document makes her a designated Prime Minister. Whether it's TV2 or DR1 who is right, shall remain to be seen....