Danish State Visit to Sweden: May 6 - 7, 2024


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Then I shall oblige you with more uniforms.
First though. What a beautiful sight! What a magnificent chalup.
Notice the flags having three points. The two-pointed dove-tail flag is the most common, because that's the flag that fly from navy ships and official buildings like barracks, navy stations, palaces and so on. But when the big show it is on it's three points. And the Scandinavian cross-banners are they are called, conveniently allow that to be a natural thing to do. And Indeed I believe the concept of flags with three tails/points is not used outside Scandinavia.
When a ship or chalup for that matter enter a foreign harbor it fly the national flag from the stern, but also the flag of the country that is visited from the front. If there is a picture of Dannebrog sailing into Stockholm harbor you will notice that.
What is interestingly is that the Swedish chalup fly the Swedish flag as well as the flag of the Danish king to the fore, that's because the chalup is Swedish territory, but transporting a foreign monarch/head of state.

Of course FX&QM were received by an honor guard. Denmark has two guards regiments, and so has Sweden. But Sweden also has Drabant Corps, more on them later if they appear. Denmark also used to have a similar corps but they were disbanded some 100 years ago.
First we have the cavalry:
They are light dragoons as you can tell from their headgear with the plumage perched on a spike. The uniforms are inspired by Prussian uniforms from the last half of the 1800s.
Being dragoons (all-purpose cavalry) they are armed with light straight swords, rather than sabers. Also being light dragoons they are armed with short carbines. The cavalry model of the Swedish Mauser (IIRC 6.5 mm) which again is a Swedish copy, albeit in a smaller caliber, of the German Mauser 98K.

Then we have the other guards regiment. They are or at least used to be grenadiers = heavy infantry. You can tell from their bearskin caps. They too wear Prussian inspired uniforms.
They are armed with the Swedish version of the Mauser 98K. Which is a very elegant weapon, aesthetically pleasing to perform drill with and somewhat easier to handle on a parade-ground than a modern assault rifle. The Danish Lifeguard Regiment in comparison use assault rifles, albeit with an extended butt-stock and a five round magazine. The reason is simplicity: You don't have to train the recruits in using two very different rifles. But the Swedes as you can tell have retained their bolt-action rifles.
 
So pleased to see Daniel with the Order of the Elephant!
 
The Ruby Parure was worn by Queen Ingrid when she was queen, both before and after her husband's death. It's not meant for Crown Princesses only. They're Frederik's property, as his grandmother willed them to him, and he gave them to Mary to wear. So, they're as much the queen's jewels as anything else Mary has access to now.
Agreed. People are confusing the fact that this set was bequeathed by Queen (operative word) Ingrid to a then Crown Prince Frederik for his future wife. However, the ruby set is by no means relegated to be worn by Crown Princess only and then when they become Queen they stop wearing the set. In fact, the opposite is true. Queen Ingrid wore this set until she passed. This ruby set is literally synonymous with Queen Ingrid, a Swedish Princess. The historical lineage of this set with its long connection to Sweden is the perfect homage that Queen Mary could do for a state visit to Sweden. The pearl poire does not have that long of connection to Sweden - so while "bling-ee", the ruby set has more gravitas in Sweden and is appropriate for her to wear.

The family order frame she wears also has historical significance in connection to not only Sweden, but Brazil given the lineage. She also wore the sapphire brooch during the day.

Queen Mary knows what she is doing and what is appropriate regardless of what us strangers on the internet feel is appropriate or not just because some want to squee over bling. And if she had worn something other than the ruby set, there would be those that complained that she should have worn it given the connection to Sweden. At the end of they day, Queen Mary is not going to please all of the royal watchers on forums such as this. What is important is that she is paying homage to her hosts and their history. She is doing her job and doing it magnificently imo.
 
From the speeches
"Both gentlemen spoke for ten minutes before offering a toast, which ended with the King's Song.
King Frederik seemed particularly well-versed during the speech, which was both personal and funny.
The king did not least mention the sporting rivalry between Denmark and Sweden, but he also touched on more serious topics such as the war in Ukraine - which just makes clear the importance of our neighboring countries' close ties."

King Frederik
- My grandmother was born a Swedish princess, and although she quickly picked up the Danish language, she made me want to understand Swedish. Her voice was, regardless of language, the sound of care, it sounded lovingly from King Frederik.

King Carl Gustaf
Queen Mary is now praised by the Swedish king.
King Carl Gustaf mentions that she is godmother to his grandchildren, just as he praises how quickly the new Danish queen learned the language when she came to Denmark from 'the other end of the world'.
King Frederik's commitment to the Royal Run is also mentioned and praised in the Swedish king's speech.

 
Queen Mary looks terrific, as always. But I must confess I´m not impressed of her wearing this particular tiara we have seen so often wearing as a Crown Princess. For her first royal state visit abroad to europe´s oldest reigning monarch, I expected - and hoped - for one of the "Queen of Denmark" tiaras, like the pearl-drop one...!
But it has great significance, something I am glad QM has continued to acknowledge, very much like her mother-in-law. The rubies belonged to the first Bernadotte queen and was a wedding gift from the second Bernadotte queen to the second future Glucksburg queen. The pearls will probably be worn in Norway because they belonged to their shared ancestor, Queen Louise.
 
Should it have been possible not to mix the Seraphim Chain with the Danish Orders on the King of Denmark Uniform.
Which diamond Order did the King of Sweden wear ?
 
Agree ! That was about time… Lovely to see that the danish and norwegian royal houses doesn’t put him one step below his wife, as has often been the case recently…
Indeed. But still a bit odd that no danish orders were given to Carl Philip and Sofia when even Princess Christina has the Elephant.
 
Additional:
Table decoration: https://eu-img-cdn.livecenter.com/lc-images-2021/lcimg-564d2409-393d-4bba-b6ba-8a73c50b215b.jpeg
Notice the courtier standing behind Queen Mary. His uniform is from around 1780, judging from his hat. This hat is the ancestor of the chakot, the tall stovepipe like hat that became standard military headgear around 1800. The facing showed you all you needed to know about his regiment, or as in this case who he served, in this case the SRF.
The reason for this somewhat peculiar hat that is very different from the omnipresent tricorn hat that had been fashion for almost 100 years at this time, was military practicality. The tricorn being a somewhat broad hat had a tendency to get caught in things when moving around in forest and that was a problem with light infantry in places like North America where there was an awful lot of dense forest! So a simpler hat was devised. A hat that was inspired by some types of hats peasants wore. Peasants also needing to work with pitchforks and what not where a broad-brimmed hat like a tricorn could easily be impractical. That turned out to be quite a good idea, so the hat it found it's way from the military to other types of uniforms, including servants uniforms.

Dannebrog, fenced off and as you can tell there is always a mate on guard, armed with a cutlass (a short, slightly curved and very heavy sword for cutting) at the bottom of the landing.

And here in the background you can see the third guards unit - the Life Drabant Corps.
There are wearing uniforms from the Great Nordic War, ending in 1720.
They are cuirassiers as you can tell from their breast-plate, a cuirass. They are very heavy cavalry. At the time pretty much the only type of cavalry around, but soon to be joined by dragoons, hussars, lancers/uhlans, chausseurs and carabiniers.
The tricorn hat was standard headgear for military units at the time, except for grenadiers. But as you can tell, pretty small tricorns, the reason being that they needed to use their sword freely without knocking off their hats.
Notice their knee-boots. They are made of very stiff leather and are very difficult to walk in, so they have a peculiar stomping way of walking. The reasons is that they rode in very dense formations with the knee locked behind the rider beside them. And being big men on big horses they would simply break their legs if they weren't protected by such heavy boots.
They are armed with heavy and straight swords.
The Swedes pioneered a new cavalry tactic during the 1600s where cuirassiers really became standard cavalry. Normally cavalry was armed with large pistols and they would ride towards the enemy squadron after squadron and when about 15-20 meters away from the enemy, just outside the reach of pikes, they would wheel around firing their pistols. Then ride back, reload and repeat the whole thing until they had hopefully softened the enemy up enough to charge them.
The Swedes did it differently. They rode in a dense formation on a broad front straight at the enemy hoping to break them by being a massive wall of men and horses all riding straight at you! You personally! All of them seemingly having a personal grudge against you. And seemingly unstoppable, because even if the rider was shot off the horse the continued, it couldn't do anything else. And big horses are surprisingly difficult to bring down when shoot at them. So it took quite a bit of guts to stand fast when facing such an attack.
This tactic was even more efficient against cavalry. The first blow was against the head of the enemy horse and as the horse went down the second blow was against the (usually) unprotected back of the enemy trooper as you rode past.
 
Indeed. But still a bit odd that no danish orders were given to Carl Philip and Sofia when even Princess Christina has the Elephant.
Princess Christina got the Order of the Elephant at the state visit to Sweden in January 1973, when she was acting as the first lady at the royal family.


 
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Should it have been possible not to mix the Seraphim Chain with the Danish Orders on the King of Denmark Uniform.
Which diamond Order did the King of Sweden wear ?
OMG! that is how they have always been worn! Of course he will wear his Danish Orders! And he wears the chain of the Order of Seraphim which he received from the King.
 
Should it have been possible not to mix the Seraphim Chain with the Danish Orders on the King of Denmark Uniform.
Which diamond Order did the King of Sweden wear ?
The chain/collar is always worn as the highest insignia… As the King’s full dress uniform of the royal danish navy is not worn as a mess dress (evening dress), you don’t wear both a sash and a chain, but either of them… As King Frederik was given the Seraphim chain today, it was ofcourse given that he should wear it to the banquet.
 
Who is the lady sitting on the left of the King of Sweden ?
 
Who is the lady sitting on the left of the King of Sweden ?
Helena Norlén, wife of Andreas Norlén, the Speaker of the Riksdag (Parliament).


The Swedish Royal Court about the first day

King Carl Gustaf's speech at the state banquet

The guest list at the state banquet

Fashion designer Christer Lindarw said about Victoria's gown to Svensk Damtidning:
- I am so proud and happy! Now I sit here with a cup of coffee and just feel so relaxed. Now I can relax! It is very special and full of honor to be able to design for the royal house.
He says that Victoria's gown is actually a thousand times more beautiful in reality than when you see it both on TV and in pictures and describes the colour like pear ice cream. It is such a light, light green-blue. Almost aqua colored. There are both small sequins, small white pearls and rhinestones, and also small pearls in different colors actually. Both in turquoise, pink, blue and green. Sometimes they do the fittings at Haga, sometimes at the studio.

Wow, official photos


Nice to see a room seldom seen at the Royal Palace.
 
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It will be nice to see this evening the King wearing the Chain of the Seraphim Order.
Great arrival and no rain.

From the speeches
"Both gentlemen spoke for ten minutes before offering a toast, which ended with the King's Song.
King Frederik seemed particularly well-versed during the speech, which was both personal and funny.
The king did not least mention the sporting rivalry between Denmark and Sweden, but he also touched on more serious topics such as the war in Ukraine - which just makes clear the importance of our neighboring countries' close ties."

King Frederik
- My grandmother was born a Swedish princess, and although she quickly picked up the Danish language, she made me want to understand Swedish. Her voice was, regardless of language, the sound of care, it sounded lovingly from King Frederik.

King Carl Gustaf
Queen Mary is now praised by the Swedish king.
King Carl Gustaf mentions that she is godmother to his grandchildren, just as he praises how quickly the new Danish queen learned the language when she came to Denmark from 'the other end of the world'.
King Frederik's commitment to the Royal Run is also mentioned and praised in the Swedish king's speech.

King Frederik X did well in his speech. I feel like it was a bit awkward for both kings to adjust fully to Frederik's new position, which is not unexpected given their family dynamics and age difference, but it turned out to be easier than I had anticipated.
 
It sounds like lovely speeches from both monarchs including many personal anecdotes. King Frederik X did very well in both speeches he gave on Day 1. Even getting a lovely reassuring squeeze of the hand by Queen Mary as they walked out of the room.

I had wondered what all 4 were thinking (The Danish royal couple and the CP Couple) when greeting each other publicly after the change of throne. Victoria and Daniel looked absolutely giddy greeting Frederik and Mary. But it must still feel slightly weird (for lack of a better word) after being in the same position for so many years! And now Frederik and Mary are the royal couple. But the warmth of their long friendship was very evident when greeting and that always transcends rank, title, etc.
 
Wow, official photos

How lovely that Christina and Tord are also included. Frederik looks very much at ease...

Interesting that not only the ambassadors of the other Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Norway and Finland) were invited but also the ambassadors of the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
 
Christer Lindarw needs to stop talking, or he soon wont be making dresses for the royal house anymore, most royals likes their designers to be discreet. Which would be a pitty as his designs are beautiful. Victoria had the look of the night for me, simple and yet glamourous and perfect with the tiara and brooch.
 
Interesting that not only the ambassadors of the other Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Norway and Finland) were invited but also the ambassadors of the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
They were invited also to the Finnish state visit two weeks ago.

Christer Lindarw needs to stop talking, or he soon wont be making dresses for the royal house anymore, most royals likes their designers to be discreet. Which would be a pitty as his designs are beautiful. Victoria had the look of the night for me, simple and yet glamourous and perfect with the tiara and brooch.
The royal family has known Christer Lindarw over 40 years. It is obvious, that Lindarw talking about designing for Victoria doesn't bother her. Lindarw talked to the press about his designs for Victoria at the King's Golden Jubilee and now got a new big assignment for this state visit. And many other designers have been talking about their designs for the ladies of the royal family.

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The second day of the visit has started. King Carl Gustaf, king Frederik and Carl Philip visit the 1st Marine Regiment at the Berga naval station.
TT gallery
ANP gallery

BT's live report from the whole visit

Queen Silvia and queen Mary visit Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde, and were welcomed by museum director Karin Sidén and the Marshal of the Realm Fredrik Wersäll, who is the Chairman of the Board of Waldemarsudde. Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand is participating. They get a presentation and visit the Marie Kröyer exhibition.
Profimedia gallery

Yesterday

Victoria and Daniel and Sofia arrived to the luncheon at Stockholm City Hall.
The Kings and Carl Philip and the Queens are arriving about 30 minutes late from their visits, but soon we will see them too.
Profimedia gallery

And now the royal couples have arrived to Stockholm City Hall:
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Victoria
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Daniel
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Carl Philip and Sofia
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After the luncheon the royal couples arrived to Forskaren, Stockholm's new life science center. They are still about 20 minutes late on the schedule. The Kings officially inaugurate Forskaren.
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Profimedia gallery

The Kings inaugurated Forskaren together.
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Victoria and Daniel arrived to Nordiska Museet, where the royal couples soon come. They visit the the exhibition Nordbor.
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The Kings and Queens arrived to Nordiska Museet.
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The Royals at Nordiska Museet.
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Gallery from the second day
SWE: Day 2 - Danish Royals Visit Sweden Getty Images
 
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Visit to Stockholm's amphibious regiment

"Now there is a display from the attack divers - the Swedish frogmen.
- They shot 20 meters from the kings and 5-10 meters from us. The ground almost shook when they fired, says BT's dispatcher.
But it did not move the King much.
- King Frederik seemed completely calm."

Frederik is a Danish Frogman ; )

Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde

City Hall
signatures

Good praise for Frederik's speech

The panting of the tree from Gasten and the connection to Queen Ingrid
Danish girls chorus

a warm greeting after separate morning agendas
 
The return reception on Dannebrog
Victoria and Daniel arrived, Victoria wearing her Saloni dress.
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Princess Christina and Tord Magnuson
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King Carl Gustaf and queen Silvia
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Queen Silvia's golden shoes
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Carl Philip and Sofia
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Profimedia gallery
TT gallery

King Carl Gustaf and queen Silvia have used Daimler DS420 at this state visit.

Video of the Swedish royals arriving to Dannebrog.
 
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Frederik in fatigues. :wub: :wub:
I don't care what anyone says....King Frederik, is and always has been a bad*ss....Period! Lol. He always looks great in those fatigues. Comfortable and natural.

BILLED BLADET has posted the guest list for the return event.


Nice photos from the return reception from DRF Facebook

 
A state visit is of course not just for fun and King Frederik's visit to the Marine base wasn't just to remember old days.

Denmark and Sweden has today published an agreement in regards to co-coordinating and standardization of weapons and equipment for the armies. Including joint purchases of weapons and equipment and joint exchange and mutual service of spare parts and maintenance of weapons and equipment. - That makes a combined Denmark and Sweden (soon to be joined by Norway at least? Possible the Baltic countries and Finland as well) a much larger and more attractive costumer for arms producers. It also means that DK and Sweden together will produce weapons and equipment together. To begin with especially infantry fighting vehicles. With emphasis on European produced (here especially Swedish) weapons. That's very serious money we are talking about!
Something similar is already in place in regards to the Nordic air forces, Norway, DK, Sweden and Finland. And it's only a matter of time before the navies co operate in a similar manner.
To sum up: The beginning of a joint Nordic military is in place.
We are seeing something similar all over Europe right now, not least in regards to Poland, France and Germany also joining forces - pretty much literally.
- All that is a result of the much increased threat from Russia and the war in Ukraine - and concerns about the possible intentions of future US administrations.

In that light it absolutely no accident that the ambassadors from the Baltic countries are also represented at these state visits.
Estonia and Latvia in particular have close historical ties with the Nordic countries. Lithuania perhaps more with Poland, but the country still very much cultivate and desire very close contacts with the other countries in the Baltic region. Not least since Sweden as a new member of NATO is seriously considering sending a battalion combat group (a fully armed, deployed and combat ready and reinforced battalion of 600-1.000 troops) to one of the Baltic countries. With contributions from Finland, Norway and Denmark, that cold end up constitution an entire brigade. A very considerable force - within operational reach of the Nordic air forces and supported what could be joint squadrons from the Nordic navies. And to do that fast! Within a few months.
The presence of of representatives from the Baltic countries is not only a gesture of friendship between the Nordic/Baltic nations, but also a show of solidarity with the three Baltic countries and aimed very much at Russia. The Balts are nervous these days, and unfortunately with good reason.

So this state visit, improvised as it may be in a number of ways, is not just for show and it's not just so Queen Mary can look great in jewellery and King Frederik can look dashing in uniforms. It is, unfortunately, pretty serious as well.
I would not be surprised if they make an official visit to the three Baltic countries pretty soon as well. No later than next year.

Even voices in UK BTW are talking about that while UK may not rejoin EU for many years, forging closer ties with a European defense pact (read: EU defense pact) may be of great interest.

A lot of things are happening on the political scene in the Nordic countries as well as the rest of EU right now. And much, much faster than normal.
 
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