The wedding of Princess Margrethe, heiress to the Danish Throne, and Count Henri de Monpezat was the occasion for a large and glittering gathering of heads of state and members of several European royal families which is worth focusing on. Surrounding the couple on the presbytery of the Holmens Kirke were six reigning monarchs and two presidents, as well as one heir to a throne, apart of several European princes and princesses. The most noticed about the guest list was, however, a remarkable and sad absence, the one of TM The King and Queen of The Hellenes and especially the one of Queen Anne-Marie, sister of the bride. Furthermore given the fact that the Greek dynasty is descended of the Danish one and as a matter of courtesy and reminder of that link, all Greek Princes are born “Prince of Greece and Denmark”.
Following the coup d’état of the colonels in April, supposedly done in the name of King Constantine II but actually leaving him hostage of the same colonels and unable to express himself freely, the Danish Government not only condemned the King’s position but also underlined that His Majesty was unwelcome in Denmark. This position of the Danish Government brought a shadow over the wedding, with the King and Queen of Denmark unable to have their youngest daughter at the wedding of the eldest one. Although in a first moment it was thought that Queen Anne-Marie would attend alone, finally the Greek Queen decided not to travel to her homeland for the wedding of her sister. As such, the only member of the Greek Royal Family to attend the wedding, but in her capacity of Princess of the Asturias, was HRH Princess Sofia, born Princess of Greece and Denmark. Another Greek royal descendant was HSH Princess Tatiana Radziwill, Mrs. Jean Fruchaud, daughter of HRH Princess Eugenie of Greece and Denmark. The Princess attended with her husband, Mr. Jean Fruchaud, whom she had married in Athens the year before.
However, it must be noticed that, as if she was protesting at the Government’s decision not to allow her daughter and son-in-law travel to Denmark to attend the wedding, Queen Ingrid placed hundreds of photos of the Greek royal couple all around Fredensborg Palace. With this gesture the Queen meant to pass a clear message, that her daughter ought to be have been there with them on that most special day.
The Danish Royal Family was obviously present as a whole at the wedding. Apart of the Danish sovereigns, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, their second daughter, HRH Princess Benedikte, was present with her fiancé, HSH Prince Richard zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. The King’s brother, HRH Prince Knud, attended with his wife, HRH Princess Caroline-Mathilde (herself born a Princess of Denmark, daughter of Prince Harald and granddaughter, like her husband, of King Frederik VIII) and their children, HRH Princess Elisabeth, HRH Prince Ingolf and HRH Prince Christian. The wedding was also attended by HRH Princess Margaretha of Sweden, Princess Axel of Denmark (Prince Axel was the son of TRH Prince Valdemar, son of King Christian IX, and Princess Marie, born Princess d’Orléans), and her children: TH Prince George and Princess Anne of Denmark, born Anne Bowes-Lyon (niece of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), HE Count Flemming of Rosenborg and his wife, Countess Ruth.
Also present was HH Prince Viggo, Count of Rosenborg, brother of the late Prince Axel, and their sister, HRH Princess Margrethe, Princess René of Bourbon-Parma. The brothers of HRH Princess Caroline-Mathilde, HH Prince Gorm and HE Count Oluf of Rosenborg were present, the latter with his wife, Countess Dorrit. Also, Count and Countess Valdemar of Rosenborg and Count Christian (son of Prince Erik, Count of Rosenborg) and Countess Karin of Rosenborg, as well as the sister of Count Christian, Countess Alexandra of Rosenborg, Mrs. Ivar Vind, and her husband. Some other members of the family were present.
The Scandinavian monarchs follow the tradition of inviting all Scandinavian heads of state for their most important celebrations. As such, it came that the heads of state of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland were present. HM The King of Sweden for most obvious reasons, since he was the grandfather of bride. King Gustav VI Adolf, father of Queen Ingrid of Denmark, attended the celebrations with most of his family. HRH Princess Sibylla, widow of Prince Gustav Adolf and mother of the five royal grandchildren, arrived at the church with the President of Iceland and left with her father-in-law. HRH Prince Carl Gustav, heir to the Swedish Throne, arrived at the Holmens Kirke with the youngest of his elder sisters, HRH Princess Christina. His three other sisters attended with their husbands: HRH Princess Birgitta with HSH Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern; HRH Princess Margaretha with John Ambler; and HRH Princess Désirée with Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld.
The King of Sweden’s son and brother of the Queen of Denmark, HRH Prince Bertil of Sweden, then second in line to the Swedish Throne, was also present, as was their brother, Count Sigvard Bernardotte of Wisborg (formerly Duke of Uppland and Prince of Sweden), with his third wife, Countess Marianne. Their younger brother, Count Carl Johan Bernardotte of Wisborg (formerly Duke of Dalecarlie and Prince of Sweden) was also present with his wife, Countess Carl Johan. From Norway came HM The King, Olav V, and his son, HRH Crown Prince Harald. From Finland came President Urho Kekkonen and his wife while from Iceland came President Ásgeir Ásgeirsson.
Apart of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern who attended the wedding with his wife, Princess Birgitta of Sweden, two more German couples were present, as a result of their close family ties with the Danish Royal Family. The Head of the Royal House of Prussia (also the Imperial House of Germany), HRH Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, was the son of Crown Princess Cecile, born a Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The last Crown Princess of Prussia was the younger sister of Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who became Queen Alexandrine of Denmark as consort of King Christian X. Prince Louis Ferdinand attended the wedding with his wife, HIRH Princess Kira of Prussia, born Grand-Duchess of Russia as daughter of Grand-Duke Kirill of Russia and his wife (born Princess Victoria Melita of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) and sister of the then Head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand-Duke Wladimir Romanov. The wedding of Princess Margrethe was also attended by HH Duke Christian of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and HRH Duchess Christian, born Princess Barbara of Prussia. Duke Christian was the second son of Grand-Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, himself the brother of Queen Alexandrine and Crown Princess Cecile.
Nevertheless, another descendant of British sovereigns was present at the presbytery: Captain Alexander Ramsay of Mar, son of Lady Patricia Ramsay, and his wife, Baroness Saltoun. Lord Ramsay’s mother, was born Princess Patricia of Connaught and was the daughter of the Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, and the Duchess of Connaught, born Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia. As such, Lord Ramsay was a first cousin of HM Queen Ingrid of Denmark, since Queen Ingrid’s mother, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, was the eldest sister of Princess Patricia of Connaught, known as Lady Patricia Ramsay after her marriage.
As mentioned above, the Spanish Royal Family was represented by TRH The Prince and Princess of the Asturias, Juan Carlos and Sofia, herself born a Princess of Greece and Denmark and the only member of the Greek Royal Family to attend the wedding. Worth a mention in the impressive list are, apart of Count Henri’s (Prince Henrik’s) brothers and sisters and one uncle, is the official representation of the French Republic in the person of the then Interior Minister, Mr. Fouchet, who had taken that office just 2 months before but had a long ministerial career, and his wife, Mrs. Fouchet.
