Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
The Danish Royal Court has released the first Official Gala Portraits of King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark following the Accession of King Fredrik X in January upon the Abdication of Queen Margrethe II.
The Gala Portraits of King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark were taken by Steen Evald in the Green Room at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen in March.
In connection with the succession of the throne on 14 January 2024, the first official gala portrait of Their Majesties The King and Queen is now published.
The portrait shows Their Majesties in gala with the Order of the Elephant on chains, and the portrait can henceforth be seen hung in, among other places, state institutions, including at Danish embassies and consulates around the world and on Danish vessels.
The gala portrait was taken by photographer Steen Evald in the Green Room in The Royal Reception Rooms at Christiansborg Palace.
The King and The Queen have thus had their portrait made at the historic palace in Copenhagen where successive kings and queens have stayed over time.
Queen Mary wore the historic Danish Emerald Parure for the first time, along with the Order of the Elephant and the historic ’Ordensportrættet’.
The Danish Emerald Parure is the spectacular Heirloom of the Danish Crown Jewels, which is reserved for the exclusive use of the Queen and is on permanent display at Rosenborg Castle, where it was briefly removed in March to allow Queen Mary to wear it for the Official Portraits.
The Queen wears the crown jewels for the first time in the portrait. It is the emerald set with tiara, necklace, earrings and a large brooch that can be divided into three. The emerald set is one of the four jewelery sets, or garnishes, that are made available to the Queen of Denmark and are on daily display in the Treasury at Rosenborg Castle.
The set was designed by the jeweler CM Weisshaupt, and was a gift from Christian VIII to Queen Caroline Amalie, probably at their silver wedding on 22 May 1840. The emeralds and diamonds in the set are partly recycled from Christian VI’s Queen Sophie Magdalene’s jewelery collection, partly recycled from older bracelets, combined with newly purchased stones. The style is neoclassical forms – flower vines, bows and curled frames or cartouches, inspired by the French crown jewels of the time
When the crown jewels are not in use, they are displayed in the treasury in the secured basement under Rosenborg Castle. It is customary for the crown jewels to remain in Denmark, which means that they are not taken with them when visiting abroad. The Danish crown jewels are the only ones in the world that are both exhibited as museum objects and at the same time worn by the country’s queen.
On her chest, Her Majesty wears a brilliant miniature portrait of the King in a bow of the Order of the Dane. For generations, it has been a tradition for female members of the royal family to wear the miniature portrait of the regent. Thus, the Queen wore a portrait of Queen Margrethe during her time as Crown Princess.
In connection with the change of throne, the Queen has been given a miniature portrait of the King. The portrait is made by the British artist Tom Mulliner and set in a frame of gold with brilliants. The frame was once made for Empress Amelie of Brazil. When the Empress was childless, the frame passed to the Empress’s sister, Queen Josefina of Sweden. Later, the frame passed on to Queen Josefina’s granddaughter, the later Queen Lovisa of Denmark, and she was thus the first Danish queen to wear a portrait of the Danish regent in this special frame. Later, Queen Alexandrine and Queen Ingrid wore the frame during their husbands’ reigns, and from 1972 until the change of throne in January 2024, Queen Margrethe wore the frame with a portrait of her father, Frederik 9.
King Frederik wore the Insignia of the Order of the Elephant with the Star of the Order of Dannebrog.
The reigning monarch in Denmark at all times is Lord of the Order of the two royal Danish knightly orders, the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dane. The king therefore wears on the portrait for the first time a number of historical items that kings – and most recently Her Majesty Queen Margrethe – have worn during their reigns.
This applies primarily to the special elephant that His Majesty carries on a chain. The elephant was probably created in 1671 for Christian V’s anointing in Frederiksborg Palace Church, while the chain of the order was first made in 1693 in connection with the granting of statutes (statutes) for the Order of the Elephant. The elephant’s hallmark is five large table stones shaped like a cross, and in everyday speech the elephant is referred to as the “Mother Elephant”, as the object is the basic elephant for the entire Order of Elephants. There is a tradition that this elephant is worn by the monarch on special occasions. Thus, Frederik 9th and Margrethe 2nd each year had a tradition of carrying the elephant on 1 January at the annual New Year’s procession. At other events where the Order of the Elephant is worn, the Regent uses his personal elephant.
In the portrait, the King also wears the breast star of the Order of the Elephant from around 1770. The breast star was made for the later Frederik 6. In 1947, the King’s maternal grandfather, Frederik IX, began to wear this breast star again on special occasions. At the bottom of the uniform, the King wears the breast star of the Order of the Dane, which was made for Frederik 6 after the change to the order’s statutes in 1808.
Both the elephant, the chain and the two breast stars that the King wears in the gala portrait are on daily display together with the crown regalia – that is, the items that make up the King’s badges of dignity such as the crown, scepter, royal apple, coronation sword and salve – in the Treasury at Rosenborg Castle.
In the gala portrait, the King wears the Navy’s gala uniform. In connection with the change of throne, His Majesty was appointed to the rank of admiral, and the gala uniform is therefore equipped with four stars on the shoulder distinctions. Around his neck, the King wears the Grand Commander’s Cross of the Dannebrog, which is the highest degree of the Order of the Dannebrog.
The naval officer’s sable, which the King wears with his uniform, belonged to Frederik IX and was awarded to His Majesty by Queen Ingrid in connection with the King’s appointment to the rank of captain lieutenant of the reserve in the Royal Navy in 1997.
King Frederik X was proclaimed the King of Denmark on the Balcony of Christiansborg Palace on January 14th, following the Abdication of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark after a 52-year Reign. The proclamation was followed by a Carriage Procession back to Amalienborg Palace.