Speeches at the state banquet om May 24 2006, part II
And here you have the speech of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Since it was held in Danish, I have translated it into English. I hope that you will find my translation useful. As always, it is important for me to stress that this translation has been neither authorised nor even seen by a member of the Royal Danish Court.
/Lasse Pedersen
Speech given by HM The Queen at the state banquet in the Presidential Mansion at Athens on May 24 2006
Mr. President, Mrs. Papoulias.
It is with great joy that The Prince Consort and I begin out state visit to Greece today, and we thank you, Mr. President, for your beautiful words to us and to our country, and for the welcome which has fallen into our share. It emphasises the good and close relations between our two countries.
Scarcely two years ago, The Prince Consort and I visited Athens whilst Greece hosted the Olympic Games; an event which athletes as well as spectators will remember with enthusiasm, not only for the athletic achievements, but equally for the successful hosting of the event.
Denmark and Greece are very different countries in character and position, but they also, in their situations, have similarities which further the mutual sympathy and understanding. Both are smaller countries at the fringes of the European continent, and both countries have a geography that orientates them towards the sea, which makes it natural for us to see ourselves as merchant and seafaring nations. Those are features which have characterised our countries and peoples from antiquity.
For the traveller who is granted the privilege to arrive at Athens by boat, that is an unforgettable experience. The blue, blue Mediterranean, the rugged shores where each island and each foreland tells of the country’s history from ancient as well as modern times, the bay of Piraeus – and there, high above the plain and mist of the modern city, you see a golden chest: The Acropolis; “as a gigantic throne above all the wee houses”, as the poet Hans Christian Andersen put it in 1841.
For all of western civilization, Ancient Greece is part of the foundation. Ever since this connection came to the attention of the people of the Renaissance, the thoughts and styles of antiquity have stamped our lives; we have, so to say, grown up surrounded by the antiquity’s architectural orders and its philosophical terms, even when we are barely conscious hereof. Early in the 19th century, the ancient ideals of freedom and the ideas of the democratic city-state found further nourishment in the Greek Liberation War: Greece was on everybody’s lips; Danish artists now went to Greece, painters and poets described the country, and Danish architects and classical researchers sought to personally familiarise themselves with the places of the ancient culture.
Doubtlessly, they experienced a very different Greece than her whom we meet today; but one thing has not changed and seems as breathtaking on any Dane, now as then: the light. We Scandinavians who come from the many gray days and the low sun, picture to ourselves the South in a warm and golden light; but here, we see something new: Here, the light is white, white and blue like the Greek flag. For a Dane, there is, at the same time, something strangely familiar about the light above the islands or above Attica, for here as at home, the sea is always near; it is both at our feet and right behind the mountain, and borrows its blue glimmer to the shadows, as we know it from our own, sea-encircled land.
One of the Danish writers who let themselves be fascinated by Greece, was Hans Christian Andersen whose fairy tales and stories are known and loved in Greece; this was clearly seen in the vast markings of the bicentenary of his birth, also in this country. Both in his journals and in his great travel book from 1842, ”A Poet’s Bazaar”, he has vividly described his stay at Athens. Even at that time, the traffic made quite an impression: ”… the driving Greeks stand up in the old carriages and go by as were it a horserace”, and, as he writes elsewhere, ”it raised the dust horribly, but after all, it was classical dust”!
Some of the Danish architects of his age put their mark on Greece. I am thinking of Christian Hansen who stayed here for eighteen years, and his brother Theophilus Hansen. The works of them both still stamp the image of central Athens: the university, the academy and the national observatory are merely examples. Christian Hansen also got to leave his stamp on his own city as he, after returning in the middle of the 19th century, was the head of several, characteristic buildings in Copenhagen, now inspired by the Byzantine style he had gotten to know in Greece.
Thus, many contacts between Denmark and Greece had already been made when the Greek national assembly in 1863 made yet another connection by electing my great-grandfather’s brother as king as Georg I. The connections between our countries steadily developed, but not least in the course of the last fifty years, we have seen an almost explosive growth in the communication among our countries. It was not only my own, family related connections which were strengthened, and amongst other experiences led to me also getting familiar with the country; but the communication has reached a hitherto unseen width. Greece has become one of the Danes’ preferred travel destinations and welcomes more than 300,000 Danish tourists each year. Neither scientists nor artists hold themselves back, for Greece has in all time been an attractive destination for research and inspiration. It was therefore gratifying that Denmark could found the Danish Institute at Athens in 1992; here, close bonds are formed between Danes and Greeks in a fruitful collaboration. Also financial and commercial progress prevails, and it is my hope that the discussions between Danish and Greek executives arranged in connection with this state visit will inspire to new initiatives to the benefit of both our countries.
Internationally, there has been, for a long time, a close and frictionless relationship between Greece and Denmark. This also has its effect on the broader, international cooperation within the parameters of the United Nations, where our two countries are both, at the moment, elected as members of the Security Council, and in NATO. Not least, it makes itself felt within the European Union. Fundamentally, the viability of the progress obtained through international collaboration, depends on whether the creation and maintaining of a feeling of mutual understanding and solidarity is successful. In this perspective as well, there is reason to be delighted at the ties that have been formed throughout centuries between Greece and Denmark, and at the many new connections that have been created in recent years.
Mr. President,
as a politician, you have through your entire life been committed to the struggle for freedom and democracy. You have taken part in decisions which have been crucial for the welfare of your country. By virtue of your prestigious office, you are still contributing to the promotion of respect for your country, for her people and her both old and living culture.
Wishing for continuous happiness and prosperity for Greece and the Greek people, I raise my glass in order to, with The Prince Consort, propose a toast to the President of the Hellenic Republic and Mrs. Papoulias.
Source (in Danish): http://kongehuset.dk/artikel.php?id=77594&dogtag=k_dk_aktuelt_presse