Some parts will probably be acquainted to those that watched the British ceremonies after the demise of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III eight months later. There will probably be a proclamation, a balcony scene, a king’s speech and a procession.
There’ll even be a gold carriage — although just one. Margrethe will trip in it to Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish authorities, the place she is going to signal her abdication declaration. Frederik, as the brand new king, will get the carriage on the best way again, whereas his mom goes by automotive.
However as a London-based correspondent who frequently covers the British royals, I used to be instantly struck by the simplicity of what Denmark has deliberate. There will probably be no exceedingly heavy bejeweled crowns, no anointing of the monarch with holy oil behind a display screen. Whereas the British prefer to go massive on the pomp and pageantry, invoking historical symbols of energy, the Danes appear to take a extra businesslike strategy.
“The Brits are very heavy on mysticism. You will have this outdated man being massaged with mysterious oils — it’s very bizarre,” mentioned Jakob Steen Olsen, a royal commentator for Denmark’s Berlingske newspaper.
“The Danish manner is supposed to indicate the hyperlink between democracy and royalty,” he mentioned, as a distinction to “the way it was within the outdated days.”
“In these days, the king determined over us and our lives, now it’s the opposite manner round,” Olsen instructed me. “We now have democracy. They serve us, not the opposite manner spherical.”
Based on fashionable Danish custom, the prime minister is not only a visitor on the succession of the throne, however the one that proclaims the brand new monarch. On the balcony of Christiansborg Palace on Sunday, Mette Frederiksen will flip in three completely different instructions, saying, “Lengthy dwell his majesty, King Frederik X.”
The Danes do have an anointing throne — made with a unicorn horn, in accordance with legend, or narwhal tusk, fashionable evaluation says. However they did away with anointing once they abolished absolute monarchy within the late 1840s. The throne is saved on show in Copenhagen’s Rosenborg Palace.
And the crown? It’s now reserved for monarch funerals, when it’s positioned atop the coffin.
In Britain, individuals who object to how a lot the royals value taxpayers usually level to the “bicycling monarchies” of Scandinavia, which handle to get by on a lot much less. And the Danish monarchy has change into a fair smaller operation since Margrethe stripped 4 of her grandchildren of their prince and princess titles.
In 2022, Danish royals had been allotted $13 million in public funds; the British royal household acquired $109 million. Elizabeth’s funeral that yr value one other $200 million. The tab for Charles’s coronation has but to be launched, however some estimates put it as excessive as $125 million.
So would possibly Denmark this weekend present an alternate mannequin for Britain, too?
“If it’s too extraordinary, does the magic disappear?” requested Olsen. “Or is the old style thought of an elevated, godlike royal home altering?”