Royal family of Denmark. Crown Prince Frederik - the future king of Denmark The Queen of Denmark

AT recent times The Danish royal family is getting a lot of media attention, especially as Prince Henrik (83) decided not to be buried next to his wife, Queen Margrethe (77).

But this is not the first time members of the neighboring country's royal family have been the subject of media sensationalism.

Already in the same year that the prince married Queen Margrethe, in 1967, he was unlucky with the media. The point is that in big interview With Berlingske Tidende he declared that women should not work full-time and that the head of the family was the husband.

Of course, he was criticized for such a statement, but in the same interview he also told what he thinks about raising children, in particular, comparing children and animals.

“Children are like dogs or horses. If you want to have a good relationship with them, they must be trained. I myself received slaps in the face, there is no great harm in this, ”he told the newspaper.

The 83-year-old prince retired last year and that has affected his appearances with the Queen. The last time the Danish prince surprised was in March, when the Danish royal couple were expecting a state visit from Belgian King Philip (57) and Queen Mathilde (44).

“He is looking forward to a state visit and will certainly be,” Queen Margrethe assured on Belgian television on the eve of the visit.

But he wasn't.

According to the Danish Berlingske Tidende, he left his wife alone for a three-day state visit to travel to Barcelona.

Prince Henrik has made it clear on numerous occasions that he feels insulted that he does not bear the title of king. Previously, the 83-year-old Prince Consort also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that he "lives in the shadow of his wife."

bitten by dogs

The prince is known as a person with humor, positive. The energetic prince is very fond of animals, especially dogs, according to a Danish newspaper. BT.

But for the royal family and court, the prince's love seemed to mean more than just something nice.

The fact is that the royal gardener has now been bitten three times to the blood dead dog Henrik Evita. Bitten gardener forced to take tetanus shots (So ​​in the original - ed.) and be on sick leave.

In 2013, a gardener at Fredensborg Castle was also bitten. This time the dog Querida was at fault.

worthy person

Anders Johan Stavseng, expert on the royal family of Se og Hør magazine, says that the prince has always adorned the Danish royal family.

“Most people think that he is a little offended that he did not receive the title of king, although his wife is a queen, and he has some reasons for this,” Stavseng explains, and cites our own Queen Sonya as an example.

“She was automatically promoted to queen when Harald became king. Queen Margrethe could easily give her husband the title of king if she wanted to.”

“Despite everything, Margrethe rules,” he continues.

Stavseng thinks Prince Henrik is likely to be described as a worthy man who fought back in the name of equality.

Danish newspaper Extra Bladet took the same position a few years ago and, according to Stavseng, consistently refers to Henrik as King Henrik every time he is mentioned.

Another expert on the royal family believes that it is normal when the prince stands out a little, and in general: honor to him and praise for the fact that he dares to start a fight with his wife and the sedate Danish royal house.

“We should not forget that the sons of Queen Margrethe were not even allowed to marry Danes - both had to look for wives outside of Denmark,” he explains.

Claimed to be unfaithful

Several members of the Danish royal family, led by Prince Henrik, are eagerly discussed in the press.

In particular, last year, during the feud between 49-year-old Crown Prince Frederik, married to 45-year-old Australian Mary, and the Danish illustrated weekly Her&Nu, who reported that Frederik had cheated on his wife with an elite Danish prostitute.

The scandalous claims, according to the newspaper Ekstra Bladet, belonged to a well-known "celebrity" sexologist named Jakob Olrik, who published a book in which an anonymous prostitute talks about sleeping with many famous men.

The woman, who is also a former lover of the writer, claims that she regularly received 50 thousand crowns from the heir to the Danish throne for sex.

Context

Integration is not meatballs for you

A migrant does not automatically become a Dane

Monarchy is a guarantee of stability

For Sweden - at all times

« The Royal Family always carefully weighs how to respond to what is written about her in the media. This also applies to specific cases where offensive and untrue statements based on rumors and speculation are being circulated,” Lene Balleby, chief public relations officer, wrote to Metroexpress.

Was sent home by his wife

While on holiday in Skagen in 2008, the crown prince also caused a media frenzy. Then, allegedly, the prince got so drunk that his wife Mary, in the end, sent him home, according to the Danish magazine Se og Hør.

They say that Mary and Henrik arrived in Skagen at about half past two, but after an hour and a half, Frederik, allegedly, was completely drunk and started dancing.

Mary could not bear such behavior of the Crown Prince, and after another hour and a half she realized that she had had enough.

She asked him to pack his things and go home.

being late

It's no secret that etiquette in royal circles is of great importance. Therefore, many were surprised when Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary arrived late for the New Year's Eve banquet in 2012, and after the banqueting couple, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik.

Both reporters and viewers reacted to the late appearance of the crown prince and his wife, according to a Danish magazine. Se og Hor.

After that, many began to speculate: why was the couple late - until the chief of public relations, Lene Balleby, discovered the reason.

"God, the explanation is that it can happen even in the best families, even there they are late."

Dubious Bridesmaid

In 2006, it became known that the Australian Mary Donaldson, the current wife of the crown prince, and then the girl with whom he was engaged, chose one rather dubious person as a bridesmaid at the royal wedding.

The fact is that her best friend Amber Petty (Amber Petty) had an affair with a very rich businessman Mark Alexander-Erber, who was previously associated with the Bandidos. In addition, when he began an affair with Petty, he was married and had small children.

situation for the future Danish Crown Princess she didn’t get any better, since it became known that her friend would have to serve time in prison.

And yet, Stavseng explained Dagbladet that the crown prince is a very nice person.

“Even though he gets into the media spotlight because of his behavior, it just proves that he is quite “ normal person“,” he says.

“Everyone has one or two speeding tickets on their conscience, everyone at least once, and even got drunk at a party. Anything else would be abnormal,” he adds.

Cheated with a photographer

During his 48-year life, the younger brother of the crown prince, Prince Joachim, also got from the media.

In 2005, he startled many when he and his then-wife, Princess Alexandra (children Prince Nicholas, 17, and Prince Felix, 15), announced they were divorcing after nine years of marriage.

The couple met at a party in Hong Kong at the end of 1994, and already in May of the following year, the prince fell to his knee and offered Alexandra a hand and heart during a romantic getaway in the Philippines.

And six months later, the wedding took place.

Alexandra quickly became the darling of the Danish people, she was known for her charity work and her ability to dress fashionably. But when the couple broke up, Alexandra, who had to part with the title of princess, quickly found happiness with photographer Martin Jørgensen, who is 14 years younger than her.

They allegedly fell in love during a trip to Thailand - Alexandra was married to Prince Joachim at the time.

Got drunk in the club

In 2004, Prince Joachim, who was in the dark, invited Martin to Schackenborg to take pictures for the program "My Home is My Castle", which was supposed to be shown in connection with Alexandra's 40th birthday.

In 2005, when Alexandra again took Jorgensen with her to China as a photographer, the Prince of Denmark gradually began to realize that he was losing her.

Journal Royal Family Expert Se og Hor explained Dagbladet that Joachim and Alexandra remained friends, but that before the divorce became a fact, photographs of the prince, who was clearly out of his mind, went around all of Europe.

A few years after breaking up with Alexandra, Prince Joachim had fun, stuck with young girls, rushed around in a car with children sitting in the back seat, until in 2008 he decided to settle down with Marie Cavallier.

“Now he has finally calmed down and found happiness again with his French princess Marie,” says Anders Johan Stavseng.

The prince was reported to the police

In 2004, Prince Joachim was reported to the police because of his auto recklessness. The pictures showed that the prince was driving along the Lyngbyveien at a speed of 140 km / h at a speed of 90. The photographer who reported the prince to the police believes that, quite possibly, the speed could reach up to 170 km / h.

Prince Joachim repeatedly "played king" on the road. In 1988, he was in a terrible car accident but survived. In 1992, the prince and his girlfriend were stopped by the police as they were returning from a party. She didn't have a license, she was suspected of driving in a state of alcohol intoxication. In 1997, he was driving along the highway at a speed of 160 km/h.

Just two months before the wedding, Joachim again became the hero of a scandal when he was spotted drunk in one of the Copenhagen clubs for homosexuals.

But the wedding took place anyway, and so far the marriage of the Danish prince and his wife is very successful. They have a son - Prince Henrik (8 years old) and a daughter - Princess Athena (5 years old).

shocking smoking

And the journalists did not ignore the Queen herself. When the Danish royal family vacationed at the idyllic Gråsten slott in Denmark in 2015, Margtete wowed many by smoking two cigarettes during a press conference.

The fact that the Queen was smoking in the vicinity of her grandchildren made the international press wide-eyed.

“Put out your cigarette, grandma! The stubbornly smoking Queen Margrethe of Denmark takes a puff in front of the young children of Crown Princess Mary so actively that even her eyebrows rise, ”the British newspaper wrote at the time. Daily Mail.

The queen has been observed repeatedly with a cigarette in her hands. In 2001, things went so far that Belgian professor Hugo Keteloot blamed the queen for indirectly contributing to the death rate among young smokers in Denmark, wrote one internet source.

Prince Henrik was so hurt by these statements that in a meeting with the press later that day, when the Belgian professor made his allegations, he took his wife under his protection:

“I believe, and I can speak on this topic, since I myself quit smoking, that you should not fall under the influence of political correctness. This is the dumbest thing I've heard because political correctness leads to neopuritanism, and that's not what anyone wants."

“Let people die from smoking if they want to. This is their own business. I say this because I quit smoking. By the way, Queen Ingrid, who died at 90, smoked more than her daughter, so this does not prove anything, ”he added.

InoSMI materials contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editors.

[literary version]

MARGRETTE II:

“We, monarchs, always stay with our country…”

Margrethe Alexandrina Thorildur Ingrid - from the dynasty of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
Eldest daughter of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid.
She was born on April 16, 1940 at Amalienborg Palace.
Since January 14, 1972 - Queen of Denmark.

STROKE TO THE PORTRAIT

Margrethe Alexandrina Thorildur Ingrid, the eldest daughter of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid, belongs to the dynasty of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The second woman on the Danish throne.

Of all the monarchies in existence today in the world, the Danish one is the oldest. She is 1100 years old! The first king was named Gorm the Old, he died in 940. In more than a thousand years, 54 kings have succeeded the Danish throne. And only two women ruled among them - Margrethe I, who at the end of the 14th century held the title of ruler of three kingdoms - Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but she was never a queen. And Margrethe II, who became the first woman in the history of the Danish monarchical dynasty, who inherited the power of her father.

On April 16, 1940, at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, exactly one week after Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, King Christian had a granddaughter, Margrethe, the first-born in the family of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid. The birth of the future Danish queen was for many Danes a symbolic ray of light in the darkness of occupation, the only hope for a better future.

However, up to 13 years, i.e. before 1953, young princess and did not suspect that she could ascend the throne: the Danish Constitution forbade females from occupying the throne, and for more than 600 years men used this privilege. But after two more daughters were born in the royal family, it was decided to amend the Constitution. After a popular referendum held in 1953, as a result of which women received the right to inherit the throne, Margrethe became Crown Princess.

Already on April 16, 1958, Margrethe took a seat in the State Council next to her father.

Based on the parental attitude “Denmark deserves a highly educated, intelligent monarch,” the future queen received a very good all-round education.

In 1959, after graduating from one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Copenhagen, the Enzalis Margrethe School, she passed the entrance exams to the University of Copenhagen, where she studied until 1960.

She studied at the School of Air Squadron Leaders of the Danish Women's Corps. Then she studied philosophy, economics, political science, administrative law, history and archeology at the Universities of Cambridge (1960-1961), the Danish University of Aarhus (1961-1962), the Sorbonne (1963) and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1965).

Margrethe chose to study archeology and history not in the silence of libraries, but at excavations. First - in Denmark, later under the hot rays of the sun in Egypt and Sudan, where she worked with her maternal grandfather - the Swedish king Gustav VI Adolf. She owes her love for archeology to him. But not only. Gustav Adolf was the first to notice and encourage his granddaughter's love of drawing. And she painted, in her own words, "for as long as she can remember herself."

Thus, from 1958 to 1964, Margrethe traveled 5 continents, covering a total of 140 thousand kilometers.

The Danes saw their princess queen when, on January 14, 1972, a tearful young woman under a black veil stepped onto the balcony of Christiansborg Castle, and Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag proclaimed to the hushed square: “King Frederik IX is dead! Long live Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II."

Queen Margrethe, according to the Constitution, is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Denmark, has the rank of Major in the Air Force. He explains his commitment to aviation with the desire to “keep justice” - after all, before it, the Danish kings preferred only the army and navy.

Queen's motto: God's help, people's love, prosperity for Denmark!”

The Queen's primary duties are to preside over meetings of the Council of State, as no law can see the light of day without the Queen's signature. She also accepts credentials from ambassadors, meets visiting heads of foreign states.

One of the Queen's main tasks, she said, is to adequately represent Denmark on foreign trips. The routes of Margrethe's annual travels stretch for tens of thousands of kilometers - from Greenland to Australia.

In 1975, the Dannebrog family royal yacht moored in Leningrad. Margrethe II was the first European queen who arrived in our country after 1917. In Moscow, she met with N.V. Podgorny, A.N. Kosygin, then visited Georgia.

The international activity of the royal couple is not only protocol. The couple created the Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik Foundation, designed to encourage interesting and unusual international projects in the field of culture, health and business.

The Queen has many honorary titles and awards, heads many Foundations and Academies. She is the President of the Society of Old Norse Literature and Arts, the founder of the Archaeological Foundation of Queen Margrethe II. Under her patronage are the Royal Danish Scientific Society, the Danish Bible Society, the Royal Orphanage, the Queen Louise Refugee Society, the Danish National Olympic Committee, the Danish Royal geographical society etc. She is a member of the London Society of Antiquities, an honorary member of the University of Cambridge, an honorary doctorate from the University of London and the University of Reykjavik, etc. He is a laureate of the Danish Literary Prize. She has been awarded the Greek Order of Salvation, the Greek Order of St. Olga and St. Sophia 1st Class, the British Order of the Garter, the Grand Star of the Austrian Order of Merit and many other awards.

Without relying on the help of advisers and referents, Margrethe herself prepares the texts of her speeches and speeches, including the traditional New Year's address to her people. Her throne speeches are not always laudatory - they often contain reproaches against those who, reveling in their well-being, forget about their suffering compatriots. She does not ignore the negative attitude towards foreign workers in the country, sometimes the target of her criticism is the government.

According to those who worked with Queen Margrethe, it is difficult to call her an "easy" leader. She is extremely observant and demanding of herself and others. Can't stand superficial people. Its special requirement is the reliability of the information provided.

The topic for countless jokes and friendly cartoons is Margrethe's long-standing addiction to fashionable hats of various styles and sizes. Instead of dressing like most royalty, with understated elegance, Margrethe prefers a personally created style of "explosion of fantasy", the main element of which is her own made hats with flowers. However, the queen cannot be reproached for her lack of taste - in 1990, a special international jury recognized her as the most elegant statesman in the world. In addition, as officially announced - the most educated head of state in the world.

In the service, the queen is dressed in a businesslike manner. However, having finished with official duties, she is not averse to dancing or even going on a ski trip. As a companion, she prefers to invite the Norwegian Queen Sonya.

Margrethe, or Daisy, as her subjects affectionately call her, is an avid smoker who prefers strong Greek Karelia cigarettes, popular in the military environment. Which, however, does not prevent her as chairman of the Danish Association for Combating lung diseases give lectures on the dangers of smoking. When one of the listeners once drew her attention to such inconsistency, she said: "And you do as I say, and not as I do."

Sociological polls have been repeatedly conducted in Denmark, during which the popularity of the monarchy, and in particular Queen Margrethe, has been clarified. It turned out that never before has a monarch in Denmark enjoyed such deafening popularity - 95 percent of Danes rate her work as "brilliant" or "good." Well, if suddenly the inhabitants of Denmark would refuse the monarchical form of government, then of all the living politicians, the queen would still be the most real contender for the highest state post in the country.

In any case, Margrethe would not be in danger of unemployment ...

In 1981, the publishing house "Guldendal" published a translation of a complex psychological novel on the historical theme of the Frenchwoman Simone de Beauvoir "All men are mortal." Critics highly appreciated the skill of the "translator H.M. Weyerberg", not suspecting that this was a pseudonym for the royal couple.

The Danish monarch is a wonderful illustrator, painter, designer, who has a large number of exhibitions in the country and abroad. Stamps are issued based on her sketches, and reproductions of the queen's paintings are sold throughout Denmark.

And finally, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is a happy mother and wife. She met her future husband Henri-Marie-Jean-Andre, Comte de Laborde de Montpezat in London, where he worked in the diplomatic field as secretary of the French embassy.

According to the queen, it was love at first sight, love from capital letter. “It was as if something exploded in the sky ...” Margrethe recalled.

“When I saw her for the first time at a reception in London, I realized that this girl needed to be thawed out,” the husband shares his impressions of the first meeting with the princess in his memoirs entitled “Fate Obliges”.

After the marriage, which took place on June 10, 1967, Henri converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism and received the title of Prince Henrik of Denmark.

Life in a new quality was not easy for the Frenchman - there was a total reincarnation - a change of nationality, faith, work, name. Suffice it to say that the Danish newspapers then reacted immediately to the appearance of a new member of the royal family, placing ads on the pages like: “There is a prince consort. Job required." So, in particular, the prince himself, recalling the story of his “marriage to Denmark”, laments that the “honeymoon with the Danish people” had barely ended, when they began to poison him literally for everything, even for the remaining habit of smoking French “Galoise”, instead of to switch to the local brand "Prince".

Nevertheless, Prince Henrik is far from an ordinary person: he speaks Chinese, Vietnamese, English and Danish. He is an excellent pianist, pilot, sailor. Actively participates in charitable activities.

However, it is no secret that the prince's heart is still in his native France, where he was born on June 11, 1934 in the Gironde department near Bordeaux. Every year the family spends their summer holidays in the prince's domain, in a castle near Cahors.

The royal couple have two sons - Crown Prince Frederik (born May 26, 1968) - heir to the throne and Prince Joachim (born June 7, 1969).

Frederick, a handsome young man, would be called King Frederick X of Denmark, the sixth member of the House of Glücksburg to inherit the throne in a straight line. At the age of 18, he was trained in the elite corps of the Danish army of marines, having withstood a competition of 75 people for a place where training is tougher than that of the famous American "green berets". “If I knew what I would have to experience, I don’t know if I would go there. There was a lot of things that can make you turn gray, ”Frederic shares his memories. From the age of 18, Frederick has the right to replace the queen during her absence. The crown prince studied at the University of Aarhus, where he studied political science, then at Harvard. They say about him that he will not miss the opportunity to drive through the streets of Copenhagen in a sports car, delighting the ubiquitous paparazzi with his adventures. He is fond of extreme sports: marathons, dog sled races along the most dangerous routes, travels a lot.

Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian - the Queen's youngest son - captain of the reserve of the Royal Guard, a graduate of the Agrarian Academy. At the helm of the combine it looks as natural as on the parquet floors of the capital. Been to Russia many times. He met his wife - once a British subject Alexandra Christina Mansley, and now Princess Alexandra - in Hong Kong in 1994, when she was 31 and he was 26 years old. In 1995, the wedding took place. Chinese Alexandra immediately won the hearts of the Danes - elegant businesswoman, she studies Danish for 3 hours.

“I will tell you a story that I myself heard in childhood. Every time, as I remembered it later, it seemed to me better and better: after all, the same thing happens with stories as with many people, and they get better and better over the years, and it’s so good!”

(Hans Christian Andersen)

Mikhail GUSMAN:Your Majesty is exactly thirty this year. years since you became queen. Thirty years ago, in 1972, you made your first speech to the Danes. What were you thinking about at that moment?

QUEEN:... I remember it was a very cold winter day. And I was simply amazed at how many people gathered on the palace square in front of Christiansborg to congratulate me. I made a short speech, I don't remember the whole speech today, but I promised my country and my people, the Danes, to serve their interests , what my whole life will be devoted to in the future. My father knew that one day I would be his successor. And on that day I realized that what he had been preparing me with such joy had come to pass. Therefore, I was not so much overcome with grief as imbued with the solemnity of the moment, because now I had to try to justify the hopes and expectations of my father.

“In the kingdom where you and I are, there is a princess who is so smart that it’s impossible to say!”

(Hans Christian Andersen)

M.G.:You have been trained in various sciences. All- which one is closest toyour heart?

QUEEN: I have not received a serious education in any one field of knowledge, I do not have, for example, a university diploma, but my eldest son, by the way, does. In my younger years, when I was studying, archeology attracted me most of all.

M.G.:Your Majesty, to this dayday the royal houses are connected by close, moreover, family ties. Here we are recently had the honor of speaking with your cousin, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who, by the way, sent his regards to you. He knew that we would have a meeting with you. How often do you meet with your close relatives - colleagues at the royal house?

QUEEN: As far as European royal families are concerned, we are all related. Someone closer (for example, the Swedish king, my cousin, his father was my mother's brother). We also have very close family ties with the Norwegian king, partly through the Swedish royal house, and directly through the Danish one. And, besides, we are all, of course, very good friends, so we often meet, not only in connection with some family events, but also on other occasions ... Such meetings take place in the same way as meetings between close relatives in any family.

“It was in Copenhagen, on East Street, not far from the New royal square. A large society gathered in one house - sometimes everything- still have to receive guests ... By the way, we were talking about the Middle Ages, and many found that in those days life was much better than it is now. Yes Yes!"

(Hans Christian Andersen)

Whether life was better in the Middle Ages or not is not for us to judge. But still, It must be admitted that many modern traditions originated precisely in Middle Ages!

M.G.: It is probably very interesting to note that the first agreement between Denmark and Russia was called the "agreement of love and brotherhood." What is it in - yours in whatthe secret of such unique relations between countries that, being neighborsso many years, never fought? After all, between Denmark and Russia there has never beenwar, thank God!

QUEEN: Relations between our countries have a very long and complex history. There are a number of details or, one might say, historical factors, nuances, thanks to which we have always maintained peace with each other. And although it is between our closest neighbors that the most serious contradictions arise, we are very fortunate that peace reigned in our relations for five hundred years. This is primarily due to the very intensive trade between Denmark and Russia. And trade needs peace.

Official relations between Denmark and Russia were established on November 8, 1493 thanks to a treaty signed by King Hans of Denmark and Grand Duke Moscow Ivan III. Already at the beginning XVI century, the Danes opened their own trading yards in Novgorod and Ivangorod. It was beneficial for Denmark to have allies against the Swedes mighty empire in the east. And Russia had its own interest - Denmark owned the gates to the oceans.

"Long away- far beyond the sea lies a country as beautiful as this. There- then we live. But the road there is long; need to fly across the sea, and there is not a single island along the way where they could spend the night.

(Hans Christian Andersen)

In 1716, to discuss joint plan actions against the Swedes, Peter I came to the Danish King Frederick IV. This was the first official visit of the head of Denmark in the history of Denmark. Russian state. Frederick IV received the Russian Tsar and Empress Catherine- royally!

In the 19th century, the Russian monarchy became directly related to the Danish monarchical house. Youngest daughter of King Christian IX and the Queen Louise Princess Dagmar, under the name of Maria Feodorovna, became the wife of Grand Duke Alexander, the future Russian emperor Alexander III. It can be seen that it was not for nothing that Father Dagmar Christian IX was called "father-in-law Europe"! His eldest daughter Alexandra became the Queen of Great Britain, the wife of King Edward VII, and his son George became the King of Greece!

QUEEN: The father-in-law of Europe, who was my great-great-grandfather Christian IX, used to spend the spring and autumn and part of the summer at Fredensborg Castle, just over half an hour from Copenhagen. There, in Fredensborg, he usually collected his big family from all over Europe. Empress Dagmar came, although officially she was called Maria Feodorovna. I know that history, or rather, our family legends, says: Alexander liked to be there and enjoy peace in the absence of annoying attention from the guards, spend time with relatives in the park.

M.G.: It is very symbolic that we are sitting with you in the room of your palace near the portrait of Maria Feodorovna, Russian empress, the mother of the last king - Nicholas II.

QUEEN: Empress Dagmar is well remembered in Denmark. And everyone, including members of our family, is glad that she is not forgotten in Russia. Still quite young, she arrived in Russia, which she immediately felt as her new homeland. And not only because she converted to Orthodoxy. She was well aware that when marrying in a foreign country, you need to try to perceive it as your own. And she did it with all her heart.

My father remembered her. After all, after the revolution, she came to Denmark and lived here the rest of her days, that is, a good nine years.

Empress Maria Feodorovna is buried in Roskilde, one of beautiful cathedrals. Here lie the ashes of 20 kings and 17 queens. Denmark, and among them - the sarcophagus of the medieval ruler Margrethe I. The entrance to the tomb is available only to members of the royal family. We were given a high honor by the great-great-grandson of Nicholas I and second cousin of Nicholas II, prince of imperial blood Dmitry Romanovich Romanov. He personally accompanied us to tomb of Empress Maria Feodorovna.

M.G.: Now there is a lot of talk about the fact that the Romanov family, in particular Prince Dmitry Romanovich Romanov, who lives in Denmark, are in favor of transferring the remains of Maria Feodorovna from the crypt in Roskilde to the Peter and Paul FortressSaint- Petersburg. How do you feel about it?

QUEEN: The discussion of the possibility of transferring her ashes to St. Petersburg seems to us very important. And I believe that reburial will be a completely natural step if we can find the right solution to this issue.

M.G.:Both historically and geographically, among Russian cities, the closest toDenmark's neighbor is St.- Petersburg. Our northern capital will soon becelebrate its tercentenary. As Denmark plans, the Danish royal courttake part in this event?

QUEEN: The Prince and I intend to pay a state visit to Russia in 2003 in June - and, naturally, we will visit St. Petersburg primarily in connection with the planned celebrations.

“Many tales are told by storks to their chicks ... It’s enough for kids to say “crible, crable, plurre- murre", but the chicks are older demand something from a fairy tale- something more, at least in order to she mentioned them own family. One of the most beautiful tales known to storks, we all know.”

(Hans Christian Andersen)

M.G.: Your Majesty, this year marks thirty-five years of your happy family life. I understand that all Danes know beautiful story your affair with your husband, then a young French diplomat. But tell this wonderful beautiful story for Russian readers.

QUEEN: The prince and I met in London, where he worked at the French Embassy, ​​and I came to England for a few months - that's how we met. And something happened that can happen when two people meet. And we... no, you know, it's not easy to talk about it. Nevertheless, after a very short time, we realized that we really liked each other, that we were in love and became really close people. I told my parents that I met a man whom I would like to marry and who also wants to marry me. My father gave us his consent, which was necessary, since the marriage of the heir to the throne is approved by the king in conjunction with the Council of State. So thirty-five years ago - it happened in the month of June - we got married.

Soon a boy was born to Princess Margrethe and Prince Henrik - Crown Prince Frederick. Saved photo: future queen holds the future king in his arms. But for the mother, he, above all, son, firstborn. A year later, Prince Joachim was born to the royal couple. The sons have grown up. The eldest, Crown Prince Frederik, travels extensively, as does his queen.- mother in her youth, and presents her country abroad. His fate was determined at birth, and the youngest had to find his place in life. And Joachim became... a farmer.

QUEEN: Many years ago, our good friends who did not have their own children here in Denmark had a small beautiful estate with a beautiful estate and a well-established economy. And they decided within a few years to transfer all this to our younger son who was still a little boy at the time. We agreed ... Joachim is very pleased that he, like his older brother, has his own duties. After all, the eldest son in the royal family, the eldest child (in our case, the eldest son Frederick) is the heir to the throne, and this is his duty, his duty. Although we are talking about the future, because no one is given to know when a brick will fall on my head.

From my point of view, both the younger Joachim and the senior Crown Prince Frederik were equally helped by the fact that Joachim also had his own duties. And I think that both boys have benefited from this both personally and in terms of relationships with each other. The sons have become truly close people, their sense of responsibility has grown stronger, they have become even more friends.

Duty, responsibility - these are the main words for the monarch. But this one the monarch is also a wife and mother, and now a grandmother - Prince Joachim and Princess Alexandra gave Margrethe the grandchildren of Nicholas and Felix! And, of course, our interlocutor sometimes wants to at least for a moment to be just a woman, a caring wife and mother, a hospitable mistress of the house, go to the market. This is exactly what the queen does when she comes on vacation to France, where between Bordeaux and Toulouse, in the famous town of Cahors, with her husband Prince Henrik there is a castle.

QUEEN: As for cooking, it's not my forte. But when we are in France, the prince, my husband, often cooks himself and does it excellently.

And Prince Henrik is a noble winemaker. It has excellent vineyards. Every year these vineyards give the royal family up to one hundred and twenty thousand bottles of fine wine.

QUEEN: The prince and I very often treat our guests with his wines at official receptions, especially in last years as the production of these wines is getting better and better, which we are both quite proud of.

M.G.: But I know about another passion of yours, Your Majesty. Together with your husband, you translated into Danish a novel by the famous French writer Simone de Beauvoir. Are there Russians among your favorite writers?

QUEEN: Tolstoy's "War and Peace" gave me great pleasure. And the works of Solzhenitsyn made a great impression on me, many of which are familiar to me.

M.G.: Well, if the conversation turned to literature, we, of course, cannot help but recall one great Danish writer, whose name is known without translation in all countries of the world. They are read to the children of the entire planet.I'm talking about the great Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, whose bicentennial in 2005 will becelebrate all of Denmark.

QUEEN: I am looking forward to this anniversary, when there will be a great variety of activities. And I am pleased to know that this event, apparently, will be celebrated in many other countries of the world. For example, I know that his fairy tales are very popular in Russia.

“Most of all, the Little Mermaid loved to listen to stories about people living on earth. The old grandmother had to tell her everything she knew about ships and cities, about people and animals. Especially occupied and the Little Mermaid was surprised that the flowers on the earth smelled - not like here, in sea!"

(Hans Christian Andersen)

Did you know that colorful decoupages, a kind of collages, pages of the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and Seven Gothic Tales by the most popular Danish writer Karen Blixen, made by the Queen of Denmark herself! The fact is that painting and design are her old hobbies. Based on Andersen's fairy tales, Her Majesty designed a playing deck of cards, which is in every Danish home.

In addition, the queen is fond of scenography and theatrical costume. For the television production of Andersen's fairy tale "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep", the scenery and costumes are made according to personal sketches Queen Margrethe II.

M.G.:In connection with your interest in theatrical costumes, I want to give you,Your Majesty, a book about the history of Russian costume and Russian theatersuit.

QUEEN: What a wonderful gift! Very interesting. Thank you very much, thank you.

M.G.: Your Majesty, at the end of our conversations, we always ask the same question: what does power taste like? And what, in your opinion, is the purpose of the monarchy in our days?

QUEEN: I don't like the wording "taste of power", this expression cuts my ear. In my opinion, the main purpose of the monarchy is to maintain continuity, especially since we are talking about a time when it is sometimes difficult for a person to find his roots, to find some kind of support, and in this case, the roots of the country, embodied in the monarchy, come to the fore, for we monarchs always remain with our country.

“The help of God, the love of the people, the strength of Denmark” - with this motto thirty years ago Margrethe II ascended the throne. And everything came true! Denmark one of the three richest countries in the world. Decided in this country housing issue, no corruption, the lowest level in Europe unemployment. Isn't this a fairy tale?

Danish schools do not give grades, and this is the philosophy: knowledge must be not ostentatious, but durable. The special pride of the Danes is respect to their history, their language. Children know their ancestry until 13 knee. You can go into any house in the center of Copenhagen and ask who lived in it, for example, in 1795. And you will be brought carefully kept books, where everything will be written. And this also has what- that is fabulous.

MARGRET II

Full name - Margrethe Alexandrina Thorhildur Ingrid

(born in 1940)

Queen of Denmark since 1972

In some countries, on the occasion of the birthday of the head of state, national flags are hung on official buildings, but this is unlikely to happen on private houses. And they do it in Denmark. And without any coercion. This happens every year on April 16, when the whole country celebrates the birthday of its Queen Margrethe II.

The popularity of royal families is greatly facilitated by the process of European integration. Borders are disappearing, state currencies have been ordered to live for a long time, which were replaced by the euro. People are afraid of losing their national characteristics. And they see the monarchs as almost the only salvation in this situation. Therefore, the Queen of Denmark, going to an official meeting, always puts on an old folk costume - this flatters the feelings and pride of her subjects.

After the death of the famous Margrethe I, who united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under her banners, women in public affairs, if they were somehow significant, were only in the shadow of crowned men. For for almost 600 years only they could be the legitimate heirs to the Danish throne. Only in 1953 did the citizens of the kingdom ensure the transfer of dynastic rights also through the female line, voting in a referendum for a change in the constitution. And after 19 years, Margrethe II from the Glücksburg dynasty ascended the throne.

Margrethe, daughter of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid, was born in Copenhagen on April 16, 1940, exactly one week after Nazi Germany occupied her country. The kingdom of Denmark did not have the strength to resist, and therefore it surrendered almost without a fight. The baby immediately became the favorite of her compatriots, since the birth of a child in the family of the heir to the throne, when the country was under the heel of the invaders, became a symbol of the hope of all Danes for revival.

Despite the fact that Margrethe was sent to a regular girls' high school, home teachers made up for the flaws of universal education, based on the attitude of her parents: "Denmark deserves a highly educated, intelligent monarch." After school, years of study followed at the universities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Cambridge, Paris and London. modern queen must understand economics, political science, history ...

Margrethe chose to study history not in the silence of libraries, but under the scorching sun of Egypt and Sudan. In excavations near Rome, the Crown Princess worked with her maternal grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden. He became the first critic of his granddaughter's drawings, generous with compliments, and she painted, in her own words, "as long as she remembers herself."

From 1958 to 1964, Margrethe traveled five continents, covering a distance of 140,000 km. Once in London, she met the secretary of the French embassy, ​​the brilliant officer Henri Jean Marie André, Comte de Laborde de Monpeza. A few years later, on June 10, 1967, with the consent of the Danish Parliament, the Crown Princess married a former French diplomat. After the wedding, the Comte de Monpezat received the title of prince and the Danish name Henrik. The following year, the couple had their first son, Crown Prince Frederik, and in 1969, their second son, Prince Joachim.

Margrethe ascended the throne on January 14, 1972 at the age of 31 after the death of her 74-year-old father. That morning, Prime Minister Krag led a young woman in a black dress to the balcony of Christiansborg Palace and announced to the silent square: “King Frederick IX is dead. Long live Queen Margrethe II!" Since then, it has continued the traditions of one of the most ancient European monarchies, the founders of which in the middle of the 10th century. were King Gorm and his wife Tura. Since that distant time, the 1000-year-old Danish monarchy has never experienced the vicissitudes of popular anger in the form of all kinds of revolutions.

The Queen's motto is "God's help, the love of the people, the prosperity of Denmark." More than once she noted that she was trying to fulfill the duties of the head of state "with a warm heart." For this, they love her, although she is absolutely far from politics. Some, however, believe that the queen has the only drawback - she is a heavy smoker. On this occasion, the Danes even recently bickered with their Swedish neighbors. Stockholm TV presenter Hagge Geigert, for example, said that it was not appropriate for the national symbol to smoke in public. In response, the Danish writer Ebbe Reich recalled that the king of Sweden also smokes, but quietly. And the evening newspaper "B.T." she added that he does it, "like a schoolboy in the toilet."

Her undoubted creative abilities also helped the queen win the sympathy of her subjects. Together with her husband, she translated into Danish several novels by the French writer Simone de Beauvoir. According to her, the translation of the complex psychological novel All Men Are Mortal helped them "while away the long winter evenings in the royal palace." Critics highly appreciated the skill of the translator X. M. Weyerberg, under whose name the crowned couple was hidden for the time being.

But most of all, Margrethe II is known as an artist: under the pseudonym Ingachild Gratmer, she illustrated several books. In addition, the queen made 70 drawings for the Danish edition of J. R. Tolkien's trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", designed television shows, ballets, religious festivities, and also came up with "Christmas stamps" that the Danes stick in addition to the usual ones on envelopes with New Year's greetings.

In addition to the rather active official representative activity as the head of Denmark, Margrethe II is actively involved in the cultural, educational and charitable sphere. She is a notable figure in the humanitarian field not only in her own country, but also within the Northern region as a whole. The Queen receives $6.75 million a year from the state. This money is used to support the royal family, whose very modest fortune - $ 15 million - is placed in securities.

During one of the polls public opinion most Danes recognized that the monarchy in its current form serves as the guarantor of democracy in the country. And the point is not only that the royal house is a direct link with history, on the strong roots of which grows national pride. The queen herself plays a leading role here. Her throne speeches and addresses to the people by no means always make hearts tremble with joy. Often there are reproaches in relation to those who, reveling in their own well-being, forget about their suffering compatriots. She does not ignore the negative attitude towards foreign workers in the country. Even the government can become the object of its criticism.

The scale and charm of the personality of Margrethe II contributed to the fact that even now the prestige of the crown in Denmark is very high, especially in comparison with the royal courts of their large and small neighbors, shaken by all sorts of scandals and sensations from the gossip column. In 2002, all of Denmark widely and solemnly celebrated the 30th anniversary of the reign of the successor of the Glücksburg dynasty, closely associated in the past with the Romanov dynasty.

In mid-June 2003, Margrethe II intends to pay a state visit to Russia and take part in events marking the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. This visit is connected with the historical and noble mission of appeasement. Recently, from Moscow to Copenhagen, official offer on the reburial of the remains of the Danish princess Dagmar, mother of Nicholas II, Empress Maria Feodorovna, in the imperial tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. She succeeded to the throne with her husband Alexander III in 1881 after spending 15 years in Russia as Grand Duchess. After the revolution, Maria Feodorovna returned to Denmark, where she rested in 1928, and her remains rest in the royal tomb in the cathedral in Roskilde. In her will, she asked to be buried in Russia when "the right time comes." Apparently, that time has come.