Tuesday 28 March 2017

Spring in Copenhagen: the picture perfect start to #BELDK2017


The start to the Belgian State Visit to Denmark 
(photo MonarchieBe Twitter)
It was a picture perfect start to the latest State Visit in Europe this week. Just hours after we'd all recovered from the loved up King of the Netherlands and his queen in vintage diamonds, Denmark's royals welcomed the monarch of Belgium as the second State Visit in as many days got under way. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde arrived on a spring morning in Copenhagen and everything, from the guard at the airport to a boat trip on the river, sparkled. And that's before we got to the diamonds of the State Dinner. Welcome to day one of #BELDK2017.





Mathilde spots the camera in another perfect image from day one of the Belgian State Visit to Denmark
(photo detdanskekongehus Instagram)


Philippe and Mathilde arrived in Copenhagen to a right royal welcome. At the bottom of the airplane steps was Queen Margrethe of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie. Oh, and a ceremonial guard.






Yep, Margrethe brought the soldiers to the airport and it all looked rather fabulous. King Philippe did the traditional inspection of the guard of honour before he'd even got off the tarmac. It's good to get busy straight away. And what's not to love about random photos of royals inside an airport. This State Visit had already given so much before the carriages even arrived.




Queen Margrethe and King Philippe led the carriage procession to the Amalienborg Palace with Queen Mathilde, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary following in their wake. If that wasn't picture postcard perfect enough, the official photos inside the cool white of the royal home were made to sigh over. 




Philippe and Mathilde then met the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen before enjoying lunch with more politicians, including the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Pia Kjaersgard.



Presumably, neither Philippe nor Mathilde get seasick because straight after food and speeches they hopped on board a boat for a river tour of Copenhagen with Frederik and Mary. There was clearly a lot of hairspray and pins involved in this one because those almost matching pillbox style hats stayed in place throughout the whole breezy trip.




Then it was tiara time. The State Dinner for King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians was hosted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark at the Christiansborg Palace on the night of March 28th 2017.





In her speech, Queen Margrethe commented on the close relationship between the two countries while King Philippe, in a touching tribute, acknowledged that his host was in mourning for her brother in law, Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and began by offering his condolences to the Danish Royal Family, especially Princess Benedikte who lost her husband earlier this month. The King of the Belgians also mentioned the deep friendship between the two royal families and the similarities between their two countries.



Day one of this State Visit went down in the column marked total triumph with the promise of much more to come. Spring in Copenhagen is picture perfect so far.
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