A morning filled with surprises, song and celebration is in store on 16 June 2020 when Her Majesty The Queen receives Happy 80th Birthday wishes from children and school classes from the country’s municipalities at Christiansborg Palace. At the event, The Queen will, for the first time, see the 98 paintings that students from the country’s third grade classes have created under the themes “The Queen” and “Landmarks from my municipality”. The exhibition takes place at Christiansborg Palace, where selected paintings will be presented by ten 3rd grade students, with a video link to their classmates.

The paintings are the official gift to The Queen from the 98 municipalities and the association KL-Local Government Denmark in connection with The Majesty’s 80th birthday on 16 April 2020. The idea of a joint gift from Denmark’s municipalities came about earlier in the year, and, originally, the intention was that the gift, which consists of one painting from every municipality, would be presented by two children from every municipality during an arrangement at Christiansborg Palace the day before The Majesty’s birthday. But due to the coronavirus, the arrangement was cancelled the first time around. This time, the birthday event will be carried out in a different form, in which fewer children will be physically present but many more can join in digitally from all around Denmark. The arrangement will begin with a song when children, accompanied by composer Sigurd Barrett, will sing “Denmark in a thousand years” for The Queen. Afterwards, in The Great Hall, The Majesty will see the exhibition, which has come into being in collaboration with artist Shane Brox.

The entire event will be broadcast live on TV 2 on 16 June starting at 10:00. After that, the paintings will be on view in the Royal Representation Rooms at Christiansborg Palace throughout the summer.

Lene Balleby
Director of Communications