While state visits were taking place all over Europe, the Danish royal family was also in celebration mode this week, marking the 84th birthday of their matriarch, Queen Margrethe.
Queen Margrethe, who abdicated in favor of her son, King Frederik X, in January, turned 84 on Tuesday. Private celebrations of Margrethe’s birthday took place with family members at Fredensborg Palace. A more public celebration was initially planned, but it was postponed in light of the devastating fire that destroyed Copenhagen’s historic Old Stock Exchange Building.
Instead, Queen Margrethe greeted the public briefly during the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside the palace. She was joined by her beloved dachshund, Tillia, as she stood in the palace doorway and waved to members of the public gathered nearby.
Three more guests were also on hand for the toned-down celebration: Margrethe’s son and daughter-in-law, King Frederik and Queen Mary, and her sister, Princess Benedikte.
For the occasion, everyone was dressed in smart casual daytime clothes. Both Margrethe and Benedikte wore jackets, skirts, and blouses with daytime jewelry.
Margrethe chose a few interesting pieces from her collection for the birthday appearance. Her flower earrings, made of sapphires and carved crystal, are particular favorites. They were originally made for her mother, Queen Ingrid, by the Danish court jeweller, A. Michelsen. Heidi Laura writes that Ingrid passed them along to Margrethe, who has worn them since at least 1967.
The brooch that Margrethe pinned to her jacket also has a long history in her jewelry collection. The rooster-shaped jewel was presented to her by an Italian shipping company in 1968 when she christened a new ferry boat. Because the rooster is a prominent symbol related to France, she’s worn the brooch frequently over the years for events related to her late husband, Prince Henrik, who came from a French family.
We recently saw her wear the rooster brooch in February for the inauguration of the new Prins Henriks Skole in Frederiksberg. This photograph from that outing shows off the details nicely. The brooch is made of gold and set with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and a large pearl.
For the birthday appearance, Princess Benedikte was elegant in pearl button earrings and a double strand of pearls, worn in an arrangement with a casual twist.
Queen Mary opted for a black blouse and trousers with a light blue top coat for the Changing of the Guard.
She echoed the color of the coat with her light blue gemstone drop earrings. She also pinned a sentimental brooch to her jacket: one of the George Jensen Golden Jubilee Brooches, created in 2022 in honor of her mother-in-law’s remarkable reign.
The Jubilee Jewelry range was made by Georg Jensen to mark Queen Margrethe II’s Golden Jubilee year in 2022. The company held a nationwide contest to seek designs for a range of jewelry to commemorate the important royal anniversary. The winning designers, Ditte Bjerregaard and Sofie Elkjær Jensen, were inspired by Margrethe’s love for the arts, especially the theatre, and her motto: “God’s help, the love of The People, Denmark’s strength.”
Here’s a better look at the design, which Georg Jensen produced as a brooch, a pin, and a pendant. The Danish royal court explained a little bit of the thought process behind the design: “The heart in the jewelry piece tells the story of the people’s love, the golden bar symbolizes God’s help, and the unbroken circle that frames the jewelry piece represents Denmark’s strength. In addition to that, there are 50 grooves on the frame symbolizing the period of the Her Majesty’s reign, and the other bars depict an M for Margrethe. The jewelry piece was designed as miniature theatre scenography with various layers of background, which is a tribute to The Queen’s work with scenography.”
A special version of the brooch set with diamonds was presented to Margrethe in 2022, and she’s worn it on various occasions since then. Above, she wears the brooch to receive the Princess of Wales (then Duchess of Cambridge) at Amalienborg during her visit to Copenhagen in February 2022.
She also wore the brooch in November at the University of Copenhagen during King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain’s state visit to Denmark.
Pieces from the Jubilee Jewelry collection have also been worn by several other Scandinavian royal ladies over the past two years. Here’s Queen Silvia of Sweden wearing one of the brooches for a church service celebrating Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee in Copenhagen in September 2022.
And here’s Queen Sonja of Norway wearing the same brooch on the same occasion.
Queen Sonja also wore her brooch in June 2023 during the Norwegian state visit to Denmark.
In November 2022, Margrethe’s daughter-in-law, Princess Marie, wore one of the Jubilee brooches for a luncheon celebrating the Golden Jubilee at Copenhagen’s City Hall.
Margrethe’s granddaughter, Princess Josephine of Denmark, wore one of the pendants from the range in April 2022 for the confirmation of her sister, Princess Isabella, at Fredensborg Palace.
Queen Margrethe also wore her Golden Jubilee Brooch in a new set of portraits taken this month by Keld Navntoft at Fredensborg Palace ahead of her birthday celebrations. (Tillia also sneaked in an appearance in this picture from the session!)
Margrethe paired the brooch with gold button earrings and a pink dress for the portrait session. The brooch, and the entire range of Jubilee Jewelry, also raised money for a special cause close to Margrethe’s heart. The Danish court explained that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the pieces was “given to Queen Margrethe’s and Prince Henrik’s Foundation, which supports cultural, scientific and social purposes, in the form of specific projects.” The donation was the firm’s Golden Jubilee gift to the Queen.
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