Scandinavian Royal Sparkle at the Nutcracker Premiere in Copenhagen

The holiday season is definitely in full swing, and today we’re going to have a Christmas-themed double-header, starting with a look at a special night at the Nutcracker premiere for the Danish royal family.

On Saturday, the Danish royals headed to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen for the premiere of a new restaging of The Nutcracker at Tivoli’s Concert Hall. This production of the classic Tchaikovsky Christmas ballet is set in 1874, with the famed Tivoli amusement park as its backdrop.

This year marks the sixth time that the ballet has been staged at Tivoli’s Concert Hall. As she has done in the past, Queen Margrethe of Denmark designed the costumes and set for the production, which was choreographed by Tivoli’s ballet director, Peter Bo Bendixen. Margrethe, who is a talented artist, has been making artistic contributions to Tivoli for more than two decades.

The two are pictured with dancers from the ballet during the curtain call. Many of Margrethe’s previous production designs were used again for this new restaging, along with three brand-new costumes designed by the former monarch.

For the premiere of this year’s production, Margrethe arrived wearing a purple blouse and a black and purple floral skirt, topped by a warm fur coat.

Here’s a look at the outfit without the coat from the curtain call. The purple flowers on her skirt have an interesting 3-D quality, something that fits nicely with her role on the artistic side of the production.

Margrethe wore jeweled accessories set with amethysts for the premiere, including gold and amethyst earrings, a necklace strung with amethyst beads, and a gold and amethyst cocktail ring on her right hand. The earrings were a gift from her late husband, Prince Henrik. The ring, I believe, is one that Margrethe commissioned herself.

This photograph shows more of the beaded necklace. Margrethe also wore her famous toi et moi diamond engagement ring on her left hand, plus gleaming combs in her hair.

There were plenty of family members gathered to see Queen Margrethe’s contributions to this year’s ballet production. Her elder son, King Frederik X, was there with Queen Mary and three of their children, Princess Isabella (who appears to have worn an interesting ring, perhaps set with an amethyst), Prince Vincent, and Princess Josephine. The King and Queen’s elder son, Crown Prince Christian, is currently in Africa on his gap year. He’ll be back in Denmark in time for Christmas.

With her white coat and floral printed dress, Queen Mary wore diamond and gold shell earrings from the designer Rebekka Notkin. We’ve seen her wear the earrings on previous occasions, including a notable outing in Oslo in 2022.

There were more members of Queen Margrethe’s family on hand for the performance as well. Both of her sisters, Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie, were there. They arrived with another of Margrethe’s grandsons, Count Felix, who is the son of Prince Joachim.

Princess Benedikte wore some lovely diamond and pearl jewels for the performance, including a diamond tennis bracelet and earrings set with silvery black pearls. More pearls peeked out from the neck of her fur coat, and she also wore a pearl ring on her right hand.

Queen Anne-Marie also opted for pearl accessories for the evening out at the ballet. With her three-stranded pearl necklace, she wore her modern emerald and diamond earrings with round pearl drops.

There was one more royal guest in attendance at the performance, too: Queen Sonja of Norway, who is a close friend of Queen Margrethe. Sonja has made the trip over to Denmark to see this ballet in the past as well.

Sonja’s jewels were well-hidden by her hair and her fur-trimmed cape, but I see a glimmer of some of her favorite modern metallic jewelry pieces peeking out.

Press materials sent out by Tivoli noted that Queen Margrethe and the cast of the ballet were cheered so mightily after the end of the ballet that they curtseyed and bowed to the audience five times. Enthusiasts of Margrethe’s Tivoli contributions will be happy to know that her association with the ballet will continue next holiday season, when she will design the sets and costumes for a new restaging of The Snow Queen.

Stay tuned later today for more holiday jewels from the “Together at Christmas” caroling service coordinated by the Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey. I’ll also be covering the jewels from the Egyptian state banquet in Denmark, with that article likely going up early on Saturday morning. See you back here for all of that sparkle!