This week, we’ve been looking at several important days in the life and reign of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who will abdicate on Sunday after half a century on the throne. Our final installment of the series looks at the Queen’s glittering Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
Queen Margrethe II marked the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne on January 14, 2022. A series of planned festivities had to be postponed because of pandemic concerns, but she was joined by close members of the family for a visit to the graves of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid at Roskilde Cathedral on her accession day.
The Danish parliament also held a small celebration for her on her accession day in Copenhagen. With her blue suit for the accession day celebrations, Margrethe wore some very significant jewelry. She wore her Diamond Daisy Brooch, a gift from her late mother, Queen Ingrid. The brooch is set with diamonds that belonged to Ingrid’s mother, Princess Margaret of Connaught, and both Ingrid and Margrethe wore it on their wedding days. She also wore the coordinating diamond daisy earrings. And finally, she pinned her Ruby Horseshoe Brooch to her dress. That brooch, which is set with gems representing Denmark’s national colors, was a gift from her father on the day she officially became heir to the throne.
The big celebrations for Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee were postponed to September 2022. Unfortunately, history intervened once again. Two days before the celebrations were due to begin, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies in Scotland. It was decided to go ahead with some of the plans, though they were scaled back in deference to the late British monarch. On September 10, the Danish royals and some of their Scandinavian counterparts arrived at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen for a special jubilee gala performance.
With her salmon pink evening dress, Queen Margrethe II wore the sash and star of the Order of the Elephant with her father’s Royal Family Order and the ribbon and badge of the Order of the Dannebrog. And then, there were the diamonds! She wore the Danish Floral Aigrette, plus several more important heirloom diamond pieces. Her necklace belonged to Princess Anne, daughter of King George II of Great Britain. Princess Anne also owned some of the diamonds in Margrethe’s earrings. The other portions of the earrings and her brooch belonged to Hereditary Princess Caroline of Denmark. All of these pieces belong to the Danish Royal Property Trust.
Queen Margrethe wore an ensemble in the same bright orange-pink shade for a service at Copenhagen Cathedral and a luncheon on the Royal Yacht Dannebrog on September 11.
For the service and the luncheon, Margrethe wore the Diamond Daisy Brooch with the coordinating diamond earrings, plus a double-stranded pearl necklace.
The grandest celebration of the weekend took place on September 11, when a gala banquet was held in the Queen’s honor at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
For the banquet, Margrethe wore a striking evening gown made of sky-blue velvet, with the collar and star of the Order of the Elephant, the ribbon and badge of the Order of the Dannebrog, and her father’s Royal Family Order.
She wore an important married parure of jewels, also from the Danish Royal Property Trust, for the banquet. All of these pearl and diamond pieces belonged to her great-grandmother, Queen Lovisa of Denmark. The Pearl Poiré Tiara and its matching brooch were originally owned by Lovisa’s grandmother, Princess Louise of the Netherlands. The necklace and earrings were Lovisa’s wedding gift from the Khedive of Egypt.
The last of the rescheduled Golden Jubilee festivities, a celebration at Copenhagen’s City Hall, took place on November 12. Queen Margrethe wore a vibrant violet ensemble with gray and black accessories for the occasion.
She also again wore the Diamond Daisy Brooch and earrings, echoing the jewelry choices she had made for some of the earlier daytime jubilee events.
Some scheduling notes for the next few days: tomorrow, an article will be published at Hidden Gems over on Substack. The (free!) Court Jeweller Newsletter will be published at its normal time on Sunday morning, and I’ll also be here on Sunday with a roundup of the jewelry moments from Queen Margrethe II’s abdication and King Frederik X’s accession in Copenhagen. See you then!
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