One Week to Danish Twins’ Christening

The much-anticipated christening of the Danish royal twins, the youngest children of the Crown Prince and Princess, is now one week away. Scheduled to take place on Thursday April 14th at 15:30, the event will finally reveal the names of the thirteen-week-old infants.

As per an old Danish tradition, the names of a newborn are not released publically until the child is christened – to prevent the devil from taking the child’s soul. The Danish Royal Family are sticklers to this tradition, with the names of Queen Margrethe II’s five eldest grandchildren kept secret until their respective christenings (althought no one was surprised when the Crown Prince Couple’s first son was given the moniker ‘Christian’).

With speculation on the twins’ names rife from the moment the pregnancy was announced in August last year, it would not be surprising if hundreds and hundreds of names have been ‘suggested’ in the eight months since then. Some of the ‘favourite’ and most commonly suggested names include Alexander, William, Carl, Erik and Andre for the little Prince, and Charlotte, Mathilde, Sophie, Dagmar and Alexandrine for the little Princess (including an innumerable amount of variants on these names). ‘Alexander’ is highly unlikely to be used as a first name though, as Crown Princess Mary has a nephew named Alexander, an issue which also can be transposed to ‘Alexandrine’ and its variants (even moreso considering that the first wife of Prince Joachim is named Alexandra). What is highly likely though, most people will be pleasantly surprised when the names are officially revealed at the christening next week (much like we were with ‘Isabella’).

On to guests, and we have confirmation that the christening at Holmens Kirke in Copenhagen will be quite low-key, with no foreign royalties scheduled to attend (bar the possibility of the Greek and Berleburg relations). Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden are unavailable, as are Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who will be in Ghana. The timing of the christening may also play a part in the non-attendance of the families the Danes are closest too – a Thursday afternoon is a peculiar timeslot for many.

Bishop Erik Normann Svendsen will preside over the ceremony, as he did for the christenings of Prince Christian and Princess Isabella, and the weddings of the Crown Prince Couple and Prince Joachim and Princess Marie. Billed Bladet has reported that the guests will be ferried across Copenhagen Harbour to Amalienborg for the reception following the ceremony, with a dinner for only the closest of family and friends scheduled for the evening.

View the two threads related to the christening at the following links for more information:

The Twins’ Christening; April 14th, 2011

Name & Godparent Suggestions for the Twins

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Christening, Prince Vincent of Denmark, Princess Josephine of Denmark.

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