Frederik & Mary’s Dannebrog Tour – Final Day

Yesterday, August 25th, was the final day of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary’s tour of Jutland on the royal yacht, the Dannebrog. They visited Hirtshals, and once again the royal twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine made an appearance on the deck of the yacht.

As in each port they have visited, the Prince and Princess were greeted on land by local dignitaries and then rode in a carriage to the town centre, where they watched a music performance.

The main event of the day was a visit to the NorthSea Oceanarium, where Prince Frederik donned a wetsuit and jumped into one of the aquarium tanks – one which casually homes around 3,000 fish. The prince swam around, and participated in the fish’s feeding time, before swimming over to the glass seperating fish from people and beckoned his wife over. Princess Mary, wearing a recycled red and white floral printed dress under a purple coat with matching hat, stepped up to the window and the duo greeted each other by placing their hands on the glass. A ‘kiss’ also sent the crowd in attendance into applause (one wonders if one would really wish to kiss the inside of a aquarium tank?). Also during the Oceanarium visit, Princess Mary got to hold some crabs.

In the evening, the Crown Prince hosted a reception aboard the Dannebrog for various officials. The Crown Princess was not present for the reception however, as she left the yacht just before the reception, heading back to Copenhagen to prepare for her flight this morning, August 26th, to Somalia.

She will spend three days in the ‘Horn of Africa’, to raise awareness for famine which is currently occuring in the country. The Princess is accompanied by Søren Pind, the Minister of Developement. And to make matters that little bit more interesting, the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, this morning (Danish time) announced a general election – which effectively reduces all possible powers that the current Danish ministers have. It also meant that Mr Pind’s advisors were informed of the decision during a stop-over in Amsterdam, and are no longer on the way to Somalia – they have instead returned to Copenhagen to ‘clean out their desks’.

More about the Dannebrog tour can be found here; Mary’s Somalia trip here; and the elections here.

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Dannebrog, Elections, Prime Minister L.L. Rasmussen of Denmark, Prince Vincent of Denmark, Princess Josephine of Denmark, Somalia, Working Visit, Yachts.

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