Queen Margrethe II, Current Events Part 3: September 2023 -

[Muhler]

It was a private audience. A private invitation from a former monarch, and a rare honor.

 

[LadyFinn]

Probably a farewell visit from a president who is also leaving office this year. After all Margrethe was his counterpart and colleague for most of his term.

At the President's website:
The President is heading to Denmark, where he will have a farewell meeting with queen Margrethe. On Tuesday he will fly to Estonia and have a meeting with president Alar Karis, visit the city of Narva and take part in a conference on foreign affairs and security in Tallinn. On Friday, the president will go to Finland and have a meeting with President Alexander Stubb before going to Northern Finland where he will be awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Oulu.

Forseti fer utan | Forseti.is

Forseti Íslands

www.forseti.is

 

[Somebody]

It was a private audience. A private invitation from a former monarch, and a rare honor.

Not that private, given that it was both publicized by the Danish court and Iceland's presidents communication team.

 

[polyesco]

Probably a farewell visit from a president who is also leaving office this year. After all Margrethe was his counterpart and colleague for most of his term.

Agree. And Frederik and Mary are on their way to Norway for their State Visit. They were seen this morning boarding the royal ship Dannebrog.

 

[Muhler]

Not that private, given that it was both publicized by the Danish court and Iceland's presidents communication team.

My mistake.
I should have written personal invitation.

Normally you apply for an audience.
Here QMII invited to an audience.

 

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe presented the Prince Henrik Prize in Copenhagen today, June 11:

H.M. Dronning Margrethe overrakte Prins Henrik Prisen 2024

H.M. Dronning Margrethe overrakte Prins Henrik Prisen 2024

www.kongehuset.dk

DET DANSKE KONGEHUS 🇩🇰 on Instagram: "I dag ville Prins Henrik være fyldt 90 år. Siden 2022 har Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe hvert år uddelt ”Prins Henrik Prisen” til en dansk digter på Prinsens fødselsdag. Dette års prismodtager er digteren

2,265 likes, 22 comments - detdanskekongehus on June 11, 2024: "I dag ville Prins Henrik være fyldt 90 år. Siden 2022 har Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe hvert år uddelt ”Prins Henrik Prisen” til en...".

www.instagram.com

Derfor fylder prins Henrik i dronning Margrethes tanker i dag: Mindes sin afdøde mand

Dronning Margrethe uddelte på det der ville have været prins Henriks 90-års fødselsdag en pris i hans navn.

www.billedbladet.dk

 

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe received the Association for Bookmakers' Honorary Award 2024 today, June 12:

DET DANSKE KONGEHUS 🇩🇰 on Instagram: "For sit mangeårige arbejde som illustrator og oversætter modtog Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe i dag “Forening for Boghaandværks Ærespris” 📚🏆 Prisoverrækkelsen fandt sted i Den Sorte Diamant og efterfølgende

4,731 likes, 52 comments - detdanskekongehus on June 12, 2024: "For sit mangeårige arbejde som illustrator og oversætter modtog Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe i dag “Forening for Boghaandværks...".

www.instagram.com

Se dronning Margrethe ankomme i elegant stil til prisfest

Dronning Margrethe er onsdag eftermiddag ankommet til Den Sorte Diamant i København, hvor hun får overrakt en fornem pris.

www.billedbladet.dk

Det kom lige fra dronning Margrethes hjerte: Jeg er fuldkommen paf!

Det var en tydelig rørt dronning Margrethe, som onsdag aften modtog en fornem bogpris ved en prisfest i Den Sorte Diamant.

www.billedbladet.dk

 

[polyesco]

Queen Margrethe is present at the opening of the exhibition "Vølvens Varsel"

https://www.facebook.com/detdanskekongehus/posts/pfbid08UcmpgZgWXPU1ANp2nMtDRn4EtFvdfYAiX3XomyhLAvNbXUvViC7m21dqe5qweeil

 

[Muhler]

This would have delighted QMII!!
Not only the performance but also the place itself.
Fyrkat is a ringborg = circular castle from the Viking Age, actually from the age of Harald Bluetooth, the son of the first official king of Denmark and as such the second in the direct line of succession that now see Frederik X on the throne. Harald Bluetooth (probably because he had a rotten fronth-tooth) is is officially credited with Christening DK. That one may be a slightly exaggerated though. Denmark wasn't really thoroughly Christian until around 1200. But officially declaring DK Christian saved the kingdom from an invasion from the Carolingians, who at that time were very busy force-Christening the lands just south of Denmark.
Anyway, Harald Bluetooth had five (that we know off, probably more) circular castles made in various parts of the kingdom.
They consisted as you can see in the photos below of a circular earthen rampart with a palisade on top and a moat in from of the ramparts. There were also four entrances and the castle was divided into four sections with several buildings in each section. It was and is a geometric marvel and it would have taken less than half an hour to stake out the entire plan for the castle and then it was a matter of building it.
It looks very much like a local adaption of a Roman marching camp, and it may very well be just that.
I doubt very much that one day someone came up with the thought: Let's build a geometric castle! I strongly suspect such smaller castles were build for centuries before these were build in the late 900s.

Interestingly, big as they are, and these castles are big! They were only in use for a few decades and most of the time there would only have been a skeleton garrison there. So it's assumed that they were not means as fortresses, except in emergencies, but as local mustering points.
All free men were required to arm themselves and come to the defense of the kingdom if the king called: mand af hus = man of house = general mobilization. In fact that was the definition of a free man, who had a voice in the local ting = council.
So when the call came, perhaps by bonfires or a fast ship. The local men of that particular region would don the armor and get their weapons and rush (most likely by boats) to the nearest circle-castle. Here they would train fighting in formations and when most had gathered they would, under the command of either a local lord or one the king's earls (jarl) and board the longships that were also stored near such a ring-castle and join the king.
In Denmark armies didn't march, they sailed. The reason being that there was basically only one road in the whole kingdom suitable for a marching and that road is to this day called Hærvejen = the Army-Road, it goes all along the Jutland peninsula, and that road too was a local imitation, albeit much more primitive, of the Roman roads. The people living outside the Roman empire observed, learned and adapted.
That is also the main reason why Denmark has never been conquered. DK then as now consists mainly of islands and parts of land separated by straits. So when an invading army marched up through Jutland, and that happened a number of times, that army would always find itself cut off by a Danish army that had sailed in and landed behind them. Usually ending the conflict.

But back to the ring-castles.
Here is Fyrkat, which QMII visited as it looks today:

https://fyrkatvikingworld.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DJI_0848-1024x768.jpg

Here is a larger circle-castle:

https://imgproxy.jyllands-posten.dk/m1gwhRd7PMT5scTDnb8qIDoqPq68T_fZaZiJwM836jo/plain/https%3A%2F%2Fbilleder.jyllands-posten.dk%2Fpictures%2Fimage%2F7039351%2Fuausuv%2FALTERNATES%2Fmaster-free%2F1389331-jpg

Here is Fyrkat reconstructed:

https://vendeliarejser.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/959f0-photo_2020-06-02_21-55-36.jpg?w=1024&h=768

And finally a reconstructed long-house. Which would have been a barrack or a communal hall for eating and meetings, a stable for horses (horses in the Viking Age were smaller than the war-mounts just a couple of centuries later), storage, workshop, smithy, shops for the ship-builders etc.

https://fyrkatvikingworld.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fyrkat-oktober-2018-8-scaled.jpg

Notice that at this time there were no such thing as chimneys. The smoke exited through the vents at the end of the buildings.
Also note: The longhouse would have predated the flag, Dannebrog, by only 250 years, almost to the date.

Now, these castles weren't build just for fun. There must have been a threat against Denmark, most likely either from an invader in the south, the Carolingians. Or serious Viking raids coming out from Norway or western Sweden. Denmark at the time was a relatively prosperous kingdom with a lot of trade, getting even richer with some seriously organized Viking raids of our own, mainly towards England and northern France, so it's also likely that these castles were meant as mustering points for a regular and highly organized invasion. Or they may have been means as defenses against raiders coming from what is now eastern Germany, they a serious menace in the 11-1200s until the Valdemars whacked them! As in invading and seriously and thoroughly bashing their heads in and Christening the survivors - except for those that could be sold as slaves via the trade routes to Constantinople of course.
The Christian countries couldn't buy Christian slaves, but they could and certainly did buy heathen slaves. - No problem. You want heathens, we've got 'em! Christian captives were either sold to heathen kingdoms or shipped off to Constantinople or in many cases bought back by Christian kings - who earned some brownie-points with God that way.
So an English boy captured in Kent could easily end up in the general area of Bulgaria or even Isfahan in Iran - if he survived the journey. The Nordic way of dealing with sick people when traveling was quite simple: They were isolated with a couple of slaves (thralls) to look after them. If they survived, they went with the next shipment on the route, if not, too bad. The building they were in and where they died, was burned - problem solved.
And that is exactly what would have happened while these castles stood.

Also, it took a strong power to organize, fund and persuade people to build and man these castles, which means that Harald Bluetooth was in firm control of his kingdom. And some scholars believe that Harald Bluetooth as such was the first true king of all of Denmark. - Which is probably not correct, because there are very clear evidence of Denmark being a organized kingdom under a central power for at least periods in the centuries up to the Viking Age.

- So QMII was absolutely in her right element at Fyrkat!

 

[iceflower]

Here are some more nice additional photos of Margrethe at the exhibition opening today:

Skønne scener: Dronning Margrethe morer sig til åbning af ny udstilling

Dronning Margrethe har fået fornøjelsen af at åbne udstillingen ”Vølvens Varsel” på Nationalmuseet.

www.billedbladet.dk

 

[Muhler]

Unfortunately I can no longer edit my post.
I meant: QMII was in her right element today.

 

[gerry]

thanks Muhler as always for your fascinating story about the Viking Round Castle. Here in Canada, we also have Viking settlements (I was annoyed when I went to the wonderful Moesgaard museum in Aarhus, that there was no mention of Anse aux Meadows) and I wonder if HM Queen Margrethe has ever visited the site…

 

[Prinsara]

That is also the main reason why Denmark has never been conquered.

I presume it stopped applying by 1940.

 

[Chimene]

I think it’s absolutely wonderful that she handed the throne to the next generation and is now enjoying the freedom to pursue her interests and passions in her old age. The fact that she changed her mind after she said she would never abdicate is the reason why I find her so fascinating. As an intellectual with an agile mindset, she is the perfect example of how to evolve in an ever changing world.

 

[Muhler]

I presume it stopped applying by 1940.

Well, DK is still around in contrast to quite a number of other countries.
And I think most of Europe had... ahem... problems during the 1940s. For some countries these problems continued until the 1990s. Even today...

But DK defies logic, being in so many ways pretty vulnerable DK should long since have been carved up.
One of the reasons why this didn't happen was due to the fact that conquering armies had to sail to occupy the kingdom. Once that little logistical problem was overcome, certainly by the mid 1800's DK suddenly became much more vulnerable.

 

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe was present at the marking of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericia at St. Michaelis Church and Fredericia City Hall in Fredericia today, July 6.

Count Ingolf and Countess Sussie attended as well:

Se billederne: Dronning Margrethes historiske morgen

Dronning Margrethe deltager i 175-års jubilæet for Udfaldet fra Fredericia på en regnfuld lørdag.

www.billedbladet.dk

Dronning Margrethe smart i matchende sæt

Dronning Margrethe dukkede op i rød frakke, rød hat og matchende kjole.

www.billedbladet.dk

Se billederne fra dronning Margrethe besøg i Fredericia

Se billederne fra dronning Margrethes besøg i Fredericia, hvor hun deltog i 175-året for udfaldet ved Fredericia 6. juli.

www.tvsyd.dk

Royal gæst til helt særlig gudstjeneste: Kirken var proppet, da dronningen ankom

Dronningen - og hundredvis af borgere - tog del i den særlige gudstjeneste, der i år markerer 175 års-jubilæet for udfaldet fra Fredericia. Herefter overværede hun den traditionelle procession.

vafo.dk

https://www.facebook.com/detdanskekongehus/posts/pfbid02LFqhqQbtsTpJ8vRe4VgxgM5Fm8uALnWyzxBdPEhs6QumPTq5Y3YZThu8Nm65LjmKl

 

[iceflower]

This afternoon, July 13, Queen Margrethe attended the "World Ballet" at Sostrup Castle in Grenaa:

Se billederne: På trods af uvejr lykkedes det dronning Margrethe at nyde en af sommerens faste traditioner

Dronning Margrethe kunne i dag nyde en af sine faste sommertraditioner, da hun overværede Verdensballetten.

www.billedbladet.dk

 

[Blog Real]

The Danish Royal House's Instagram also shared photos:

DET DANSKE KONGEHUS 🇩🇰 on Instagram: "Med uddrag fra klassiske balletter som Tornerose, Giselle og Manon fremførte Verdensballetten lørdag aften et kunstnerisk potpourri med primaballerinaer og solodansere fra en række internationale balletkompagnier

11K likes, 48 comments - detdanskekongehus on July 14, 2024: "Med uddrag fra klassiske balletter som Tornerose, Giselle og Manon fremførte Verdensballetten lørdag aften et kunstnerisk potpourri med primaballerinaer og solodansere fra en række internationale balletkompagnier 🩰 Hendes Majestæt...

www.instagram.com

 

[iceflower]

Queen Margrethe was able to indulge one of her greatest passions

Yesterday, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe was on a very special expedition in Central Jutland Here is an important piece in the understanding of the Danish antiquity just now being excavated at Nørre Snede. Moesgaard Museum, Museum Midtjylland, Horsens Museum and a team of students from the University of Copenhagen collaborate here to investigate an Iron Age village, where there are traces of monumental fortifications and buildings, which 2,000 years ago crowned the ridge above the Skjern Å valley.As part of the visit, there was also the opportunity to visit the Horsens Museum. Here, Queen Margrethe, together with the archaeologists, could study a selection of the antiquities from the burial ground at Hedegård, which were excavated in the 1980s and 1990s.

DET DANSKE KONGEHUS 🇩🇰 on Instagram: "I går var Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe på en helt særlig ekspedition i Midtjylland 🔎 Her er en vigtig brik i forståelsen af den danske oldtid netop nu ved at blive udgravet ved Nørre Snede. Moesgaard Museu

6,953 likes, 64 comments - detdanskekongehus on August 9, 2024: "I går var Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe på en helt særlig ekspedition i Midtjylland 🔎 Her er en vigtig brik i forståelsen af den danske oldtid netop nu ved at blive udgravet ved Nørre Snede. Moesgaard Museum, Museum...

www.instagram.com

https://www.facebook.com/detdanskekongehus/posts/pfbid02ZSz8Lt4TorXX1q7tQRvf5x9AktYXBVZRdc5ffF8TYnzTcwtjhJSjE37HCeTtRtrBl

 

[muriel]

Queen Margrethe was able to indulge one of her greatest passions

DET DANSKE KONGEHUS 🇩🇰 on Instagram: "I går var Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe på en helt særlig ekspedition i Midtjylland 🔎 Her er en vigtig brik i forståelsen af den danske oldtid netop nu ved at blive udgravet ved Nørre Snede. Moesgaard Museu

6,953 likes, 64 comments - detdanskekongehus on August 9, 2024: "I går var Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe på en helt særlig ekspedition i Midtjylland 🔎 Her er en vigtig brik i forståelsen af den danske oldtid netop nu ved at blive udgravet ved Nørre Snede. Moesgaard Museum, Museum...

www.instagram.com

https://www.facebook.com/detdanskekongehus/posts/pfbid02ZSz8Lt4TorXX1q7tQRvf5x9AktYXBVZRdc5ffF8TYnzTcwtjhJSjE37HCeTtRtrBl

Good to see QM2 out and about. I do hope she gets to pursue her interests in her time now.

 

[Muhler]

That is one happy QMII - keeps her mind sharp as well.
The area around Skjern Å (Å = small river. We haven't got any larger rivers, so small river it is.) is packed with archeology! They started digging in that general area well before I was born and they are still happily digging away. The area has revealed significant finds again and again. IIRC Tony Robinson from Time Team (as a private person) visited a dig in that area and was allowed to do a little digging himself. It could after all be some of his ancestors who lived there. The Jutes being among the people who invaded and settled in England. Perhaps some of them migrated as a result of pressure from the Danes? Anyway the ancestors of the Danes and Jutes living there became the present day Jutlanders, among whom is little me. And that can be said with considerable accuracy, because according to a DNA test my sister had our family is more than 90% Scandinavian and our ancestors apparently stayed where they were once they came here for I have no idea how many centuries ago. People married into our family, and some members of or our family did no doubt leave and settle elsewhere, but the core of the family didn't move.

But back to the digs.
It was a very affluent area and as such the center of both trade, political intermarriage and conflict.
In fact there was a battle in the area during Roman times (the Romans never reached DK, even though their ships did.), can't remember off hand when that was. An invading army was defeated by the locals. Because lots of sacrifice from the battle, weapons, equipment, horses and people were found in the local bogs - with still more to be found in the future. And that indicates a local victory.
Because had the invaders won, it's more likely corpses would have been left to rot, or been buried by survivors well after the battle, and equipment and weapons would have been plundered. What is remarkable about that battle, is both the scale, perhaps involving several thousand with the casualty rate in the hundreds at least. But also that prior to finding the site of the Battle of Teuteburger this was the largest collection of Roman swords in the world. Because there was a huge export of Roman weapons across the borders and some a lot actually) of them ended here in Scandinavia. And swords, being expensive prestige weapons, were of course destined to be sacrificed to the gods after a victory.
IIRC the invaders originated from what is now western Sweden, near the Norwegian border. It would have taken quite some political power, resources and organization to carry out such an incursion.
Recently they have found several high status warrior graves (perhaps they were chieftains? They were certainly wealthy.) from the Iron Age. I'm sure QMII has taken an interest in that as well.

 

[polyesco]

So great that they can continue their individual interests

 

[Izzie]

So great that they can continue their individual interests

So great that she can still enjoy her passions and pursue her interests knowing that everything is in great hands!