Queen Margrethe Rings in the New Year with Rare Rubies

In her speech, Queen Margrethe spoke to the challenges facing Danes and the work done by members of the royal family over the past year. She also reflected on her upcoming Golden Jubilee, which she’ll celebrate in just two weeks, though most of the major festivities have been postponed to the summer of 2022. She mused, “It is difficult for me to understand where all the years went. I find that they have passed so quickly. Much has changed in that period of time; but not my love for my nearest and dearest and not my love for my country.” You can read the entire speech here.

For the speech, Queen Margrethe wore earrings and a coordinating brooch with a modern geometric pattern. The jewels, which she’s had in her jewelry box for just over a year, are set with rare rubies from Greenland.

Margrethe II is the Queen of Denmark, but she’s also the Queen of Greenland and of the Faroe Islands. In May 2017, a mine was opened in Aappaluttoq, in southwest Greenland, which began producing rubies and pink sapphires. Appropriately, “aappaluttoq” is a Greenlandic word for the color red. In April 2020, the government of Greenland presented Queen Margrethe with a brooch and earrings set with Greenlandic rubies to mark her 80th birthday.

Queen Margrethe made an official visit to Greenland in October 2021, and she wore her new ruby earrings and brooch throughout the tour. On October 9, she wore both pieces as she gave a speech at an official dinner organized by the Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut at the culture house Katuaq in Nuuk.

She wore the earrings on October 10 for an episcopal wedding for Greenland’s new Bishop, Paneeraq Siegstad Munk, at the Hans Egede Church in Nuuk.

And later the same day, she wore both the brooch and earrings for a press conference at the Hans Egede House in Nuuk.

But although the jewels featured heavily during the Greenland tour, Queen Margrethe hasn’t reserved the brooch and earrings solely for Greenland-related events. She’s also begun wearing the pieces more generally, a sign that she genuinely enjoys them. Above, she wears them on November 11 in Berlin during her state visit to Germany.

And on Friday, she wore them for her annual New Year address, the highest-profile appearance for the brooch and earrings so far. She wore the jewels with the same red jacket and burgundy dress that she wore during the Berlin outing.

Here’s one more look at the jewels from Friday’s speech. It’s lovely to see a new suite of jewelry with patriotic ties being embraced so thoroughly!