They're not family, but almost. Margarita of Denmark threw the palaces out the window to welcome Felipe and Letícia yesterday in a State visit with the only precedent that Kings Juan Carlos and Sofia made one in 1980. The Kings were officially received in Amalienborg, they dined at Christiansborg and stayed at Fredensborg, the three palaces that the Danish queen regularly uses.
State visits are those of the highest diplomatic rank between two countries and, if, as is the case, they are two monarchies, to the usual protocol is added the display of symbols of the respective crowns, such as jewels and decorations, with which royalty is clothed in all its splendor.
Queen Letícia has returned to Felipe Varela after choosing a navy blue embroidered chiffon dress that she wore on state visits to Peru and Japan. As expected, given the magnificence of the Danish jewels, the Queen, with a tail, wore the fleur de lis tiara, the most emblematic of the Spanish crown. She also wore sapphire and diamond earrings from Queen Sofia's jeweler. The King wore the dress uniform of the Land Army, the same as his wedding and proclamation, in addition to the golden fleece, the band of the Order of the Elephant, Denmark's highest distinction , which the Queen has also worn on her dress. Margaret II wore a green dress and Princess Maria's was water green with rhinestones.
During the traditional kiss before the gala dinner, the Danish sovereign was seated. Margaret II, 83, who has been on the throne for 51 years, had back surgery in February, which forced her to postpone the State of the Kings originally scheduled for April.
The Kings' first day in Copenhagen began with a carriage ride through the center of the city, from the citadel to Amalienborg Palace, where the official reception took place. This time, earlier, Queen Margarida, as a deference and for the ties of kinship they share, went to the airport to receive the Kings at the foot of the stairs.
The Danish sovereign, dressed in a strawberry jacket and walking with the help of a cane, was accompanied to the airport by the crown princes, Frederik and Maria, dressed in a bottle green coat and suit, who are the ones who usually receive in the first instance the State visits, and also by his sister, Princess Benedicta, in a purple coat.
The third sister, Anna Maria, widow of King Constantine of Greece and aunt of Philip of Bourbon, was missing. The Greek nephews of Margarida are also of the kings John Charles and Sofia. During his youth, with the nexus of his common cousins, Paul and Nicholas of Greece, King Philip maintained a close relationship with the Crown Prince of Denmark. King Felipe is also the godfather of Prince Viçenc, Josefina's twin, Frederic and Maria's young children.
The closeness and complicity between both families became evident yesterday at the reception at the airport, where, in addition to the honors of welcoming a head of state, we could also see a warm meeting between relatives. There were kisses between the Kings and Queen Margaret, and the rest of the Danish royal family. In addition, both Princess Maria and Princess Benedicta made the obligatory bow to both the King and the Queen at the meeting. Letícia wore a light coat with a belt by Mango, which she took off in Amalienborg, when she revealed a ruby red dress by Carolina Herrera.
The day closed with the gala dinner at Christiansborg Palace, a set of buildings that has a particularity that makes it unique in the world, since, in addition to the outbuildings that are reserved for official family events royal, it is the seat of the three powers, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. In Christiansborg there is the office of the Prime Minister, currently the Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen, the seat of the Danish parliament and the Supreme Court. The complex of buildings, popularly known as Borgen (the castle), gave its name to a Danish television series (currently broadcast on TV3) in which the leader of a minority party becomes prime minister after the agreements of the majority parties have failed. A fiction of great topicality in Spain.
