HRH The Crown Princess presided over the opening of the special exhibition “Mary & the Crown Princesses” at Koldinghus on 31 January 2022. The exhibition, which paints a portrait of The Crown Princess and her most recent four predecessors, was opened in connection with The Crown Princess’s 50th birthday and included the participation of, among others, HRH The Crown Prince and HRH Princess Benedikte.

Princess Benedikte took part in the museum opening as honorary patron of Koldinghus, which was an honorary title bestowed upon The Princess after Koldinghus, in 2021, became a part of the Royal Danish Collection, which likewise includes the Amalienborg Museum and Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. Until the consolidation, Princess Benedikte was the patron of Koldinghus. In the photo, Her Royal Highness is seen upon arrival at the castle’s main gate.

The exhibition’s opening was officially celebrated in the Ruin Hall, where cabinet secretary and director of the Royal Danish Collection Henning Fode, museum director Thomas Thulstrup, culture minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen and Kolding Municipality mayor Knud Erik Langhoff gave speeches. During the opening of the exhibition, HE Count Ingolf and Countess Sussie of Rosenborg and culture minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen participated, among others.

After a musical feature, The Crown Princess was able to declare the exhibition open.

In the exhibition, The Crown Princess guides the guests around on an exploration of the history of her predecessors and the Glücksborg dynasty.

The special exhibition paints a portrait of The Crown Princess and her most recent four predecessors, of which Christian IX’s wife, Princess Louise, is the earliest. Thus, the first part of the exhibition tells about Princess Louise’s writing desk and the many exchanges of letters which, among other things, were used to arrange her daughters’ marriages in such a way that the royal family gained dynastic connection with the most prominent European princely houses. Especially in the 1880s, one could have the exceptional experience of seeing Europe’s most prominent reigning princes gather summer after summer for the family reunion during the so-called Fredensborg days with “Europe’s parents-in-law”, the Danish royal couple.

In the photo, the royal family looks at the Ruby Set. Koldinghus is an ancient royal castle from the 1200s that now has the purpose of presenting the Royal Danish Collection, which includes central objects and works of art that tell about the Danish royal history and about Denmark’s kings and queens.

As a part of the exhibition, a projection of Her Royal Highness puts into words what The Crown Princess can recognize in the princesses of the past, and what she finds admirable or inspiring in them. The exhibition’s final room, which among other things displays Her Royal Highness’s Greenlandic national costume, focuses on The Crown Princess and thus paints an overall portrait of Denmark’s future queens in modern times.