Over the past two years, The Queen has created a new antependium for Graasten Palace Church. The new antependium replaces the altar table antependium from 1943, which Queen Ingrid made during World War II when the royal family could not reside at Graasten Palace.

The Queen has created the antependium with the embroidery technique “petit point”, in which details appear diagonally with half cross-stitching. The embroidery on the new antependium consists of two broad columns on each corner of the altar table and a central motif. In the pattern one can see, among other things, three ox-eye daisies, which symbolize The Queen and the sisters’ connection with Graasten. In addition, The Queen has drawn inspiration for the new antependium from the hymns “Alle mine kilder” and “Som tørstige hjort monne skrige” (hymns 441 and 410).

From now on, The Queen’s antependium can be seen during services and other ecclesiastical functions in the more than 300-year-old palace church.

As a working artist, The Queen has devoted herself to religious art a number of times over the years. This has particularly found expression in several religious textiles The Queen has sewn and embroidered in bright colors and with symbolic images related to the Christian theme. As for specific tasks, one can mention chasubles for Haderslev Cathedral in 1988 and Holmens Church in 2012, as well as richly colored bishops’ capes for Viborg Cathedral in 1989, Aarhus Cathedral in 1999 and Aalborg Cathedral in 2006. Most recently, Her Majesty, at the request of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, crafted and embroidered an antependium for the church in connection with the Reformation Jubilee in 2017. Here, the “Luther Rose” was the central motif in the antependium.