Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Helle Thorning-Schmidt (born 14 December 1966) is a Danish politician and the current Prime Minister of Denmark. She has been leader of the Danish Social Democrats since April 2005 and prime minister since October 2011.

Thorning-Schmidt served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004 before being elected to the Danish Parliament in 2005. She replaced Mogens Lykketoft as party chair after the 2005 parliamentary election, leading her party through the 2007 parliamentary election which was won by the opposing centre-right alliance. Following the September 2011 parliamentary election and two weeks of negotiations with the other opposition parties, she was appointed Prime Minister by Queen Margrethe II. She is the first woman to become Prime Minister of Denmark. Thorning-Schmidt holds degrees in political science from the University of Copenhagen and the College of Europe.

Early life, education and personal background

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was born in Rødovre to Holger Thorning-Schmidt, a lecturer in mathematics and national economics at the University of Copenhagen, and his wife Grete. Her parents were both politically conservative and she grew up in the Copenhagen suburb of Ishøj. She attended Ishøj Gymnasium, from which she graduated in 1985. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old.

Thorning-Schmidt studied political science at University of Copenhagen, earning a cand.scient.pol. degree in 1994. She also holds a master's degree in European studies specialising in policy and public administration from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where she studied from 1992 to 1993 (she is an alumna of the Charles IV promotion). At the time, Denmark had a quota administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of one student at this prestigious institution, and Thorning-Schmidt was selected. In addition to her native Danish, she speaks fluent English and French.

She married Stephen Kinnock in 1996, so becoming the daughter-in-law of Neil Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, former leader of the British Labour Party and European Commissioner, and Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, former British Minister for Europe. She met her husband while they were both attending the College of Europe. They have two daughters, Johanna and Camilla. Helle lives in Copenhagen with their children, while her husband currently resides in Davos, Switzerland, where he works as a director for the World Economic Forum.

She became a Social Democrat during her studies in Belgium and joined the Danish Social Democrats in 1993.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, RE (Mary Elizabeth; née Donaldson; born 5 February 1972) is the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. Frederik is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, which means that at the time Frederik inherits the throne, Mary will automatically assume the feminine form of his title and rank, becoming Queen consort of Denmark.

The couple met at the Slip Inn, a pub in Sydney, when the prince was visiting Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics. Their official engagement in 2003 and their marriage the following year were the subject of extensive attention from Australian and European news media, which portrayed the marriage as a modern "fairytale" romance between a prince and a commoner.

Early life

Mary Donaldson was born the youngest of the four children of mathematician and Professor John Dalgleish Donaldson (born 5 September 1941) and his first wife, Henrietta "Etta" Clark Donaldson, née Horne, (12 May 1942 – 20 November 1997), who had emigrated from Scotland to Australia in 1963. Mary has three older siblings:

    * Jane Alison Stephens (a pharmacist) (b. 26 December 1965);

    * Patricia Anne Bailey (an intensive care nurse) (b. 16 March 1968);

    * John Stuart Donaldson (a geologist, b. 9 July 1970).

Henrietta Donaldson, Mary's mother, was executive assistant to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Tasmania. In 2001, five years after her death, Mary's father, Professor John Donaldson remarried. His second wife is English author and novelist Susan Elizabeth Donaldson, née Horwood, known by pseudonym Susan Moody.

Mary was born and raised in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

As a girl, Mary was heavily involved in sports and other extracurricular activities both at school and elsewhere. She studied piano, flute, clarinet and played basketball and hockey. Her early love of horses led her to ride competitively as a teenager, on her horse, Diana.

Education

Mary began primary school in Clear Lake City, now Houston, Harris County, Texas, while her father was working there. On returning to Hobart she attended Sandy Bay Infants School, Waimea Heights Primary School and then Taroona High School in Tasmania. She attended Waimea Heights Primary School from 1978 to 1982.

She completed her secondary education at Taroona High School and Hobart Matriculation College. For the last two years of her secondary education Mary attended Hobart College from which she graduated.

She studied at the University of Tasmania for five years. From 1989 to 1994 Mary completed a combined degree in Commerce and Law (BCom, LLB) at the University of Tasmania. Between 1994 and 1996, Mary attended a graduate program and qualified with certificates in advertising from The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) and direct marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA).

Languages

The Crown Princess's mother tongue is English and Danish is her second language. She studied French during her secondary education. In 2002, she briefly taught English in Paris.

Career

While studying in Tasmania, Mary reportedly had a joint business interest in a company called Kingcash, with Brent Annells, with whom she had a seven-year relationship in the 1990s.

Biographies detail that she worked for Australian and global advertising agencies after graduating in 1995. Upon graduation Mary moved to Melbourne to work in advertising. She became a trainee in marketing and communications with the Melbourne office of DDB Needham, taking a position of account executive. In 1996, Mary was employed by Mojo Partners as an account manager. In 1998, six months after her mother's death, she resigned and travelled to America and Europe. In Edinburgh, she worked for three months as an account manager with Rapp Collins Worldwide; then, in early 1999, she was appointed as an account director with the international advertising agency Young & Rubicam in Sydney.

In June 2000, Mary moved to a smaller Australian agency, Love Branding, working for a short time as the company's first account director. However, in the (Australian) spring of 2000 until December 2001, she became sales director and a member of the management team of Belle Property, a real estate firm specialising in luxury property. In the first half of 2002 Mary taught English at a business school in Paris but, on moving to Denmark permanently, she was employed by Microsoft Business Solutions (5 September 2002 – 24 September 2003) near Copenhagen as a project consultant for business development, communications and marketing.

Courtship and engagement

Mary Donaldson met Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the Slip Inn during the 2000 Summer Olympics on 16 September in Sydney. They conducted a long-distance relationship by phone, email and letter and Frederik made a number of discreet visits to Australia. On 15 November 2001 the Danish weekly magazine Billed Bladet named Mary as Frederik's girlfriend. Mary moved to Europe in December 2001 and, while she was working as an English tutor in Paris, she visited Denmark privately and was photographed attending weddings and christenings of friends with Frederik. Mary and Frederik were photographed during 2003 at various private outings in Denmark. On 24 September 2003 the Danish court announced that Queen Margrethe II intended to give her consent to the marriage at the State Council meeting scheduled for 8 October 2003.

Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederik became officially engaged on 8 October 2003.

Marriage

Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederik married on 14 May 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral, in Copenhagen. Mary wore a wedding gown designed by Danish designer Uffe Frank and had a small bridal party which included her two sisters and her friend Amber Petty, a radio announcer on commercial radio in Australia. Frederik was supported by his brother Prince Joachim. Three of Mary's nieces, Erin and Kate Stephens and Madisson Woods, were flower girls; Frederik's nephew Prince Nikolai of Denmark and first cousin once removed, Count Richard von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth were pageboys. The wedding  was celebrated in Copenhagen and at Fredensborg Palace. The couple reportedly spent their honeymoon in Africa.

The Danish Folketing (parliament) passed a special law (Mary's Law) giving Mary Donaldson Danish citizenship upon her marriage, a standard procedure for new foreign members of the royal family. Mary was previously a dual-citizen of Australia and the United Kingdom. Formerly a Presbyterian, Mary became Lutheran. Shortly before entering the royal family, Mary signed a marriage agreement similar to those of her father-in-law and her former sister-in-law. The agreement was subsequently updated in late 2006. The details of these have never been made public, but it can be assumed that they deal with financial matters, royal status and custodial rights to the children in the event of a divorce.

The Crown Princess and her family currently reside at Frederik VIII's Palace, one of the four palaces that make up the Amalienborg Palace complex. From May 2004 to mid-December 2010, they resided at The Chancellery House, a side building at Fredensborg Palace.

Children

On 15 October 2005, Mary gave birth to Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John at Copenhagen University Hospital. Frederik was present at the birth. The infant was healthy, weighing 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) and measuring 51 cm (20 ins). His name was announced at the christening on 21 January 2006 at Christiansborg Palace Chapel in Copenhagen. He is second in the line of succession to the throne, after his father.

On 21 April 2007, Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe was born, at 3.350 kg and 50 cm long. She was christened at Fredensborg Palace chapel on 1 July 2007 and is third in line to the throne.

On 6 August 2010, it was announced that the Crown Princess was pregnant with twins. The Crown Princess reportedly said that the pregnancy was a surprise, but another report claimed Mary wanted more children; and that the pair have denied suggestions the pregnancy resulted from fertility treatment. In late 2010, the family appeared in the German edition of Vogue in a series of official portraits showing the couple and their children, including pictures of Mary in profile with the pregnancy being obvious. The Crown Princess was admitted to hospital on January 8, 2011, in preparations for the birth of the twins. The Crown Princess gave birth to a baby boy—whom her husband Frederik joked about calling Elvis, as the "King of Rock and Roll" had the same birthday —at 10:30 am local time (weight 2.674 kg., length: 47 cm), and a baby girl at 10:56 am (weight: 2.554 kg., length: 46 cm.), on January 8. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary left the hospital with their newborn twins on 14 January 2011. The names were made public at their royal christening on Thursday, 14 April 2011, which took place at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen. The twins are called Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander and Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda.

Royal life

HRH the Crown Princess of Denmark attends the wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden. She is pictured here surrounded by Princess Máxima of the Netherlands; the Prince of Orange, heir-apparent of the Netherlands; the Crown Princess of Norway; and the Queen of the Netherlands.

Following the wedding, the couple embarked upon a summer cruise of mainland Denmark aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog, and then to Greenland and later the 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2005, during the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen, the royal family was involved in related events throughout the year. Frederik and Mary marked it in London, New York and in Australia, where Mary was made Honorary HCA Ambassador to Australia in the Utzon Room of the Sydney Opera House. In 2005 the royal family visited Faroe Islands.

Since becoming Crown Princess of Denmark, Mary has made a number of international visits  and Frederik and Mary participated in the reburial ceremonies for Empress Maria Feodorovna in Denmark and Saint Petersburg.

In the context of immigrant issues in Denmark, Mary has visited the disadvantaged migrant areas of Vollsmose (2006), Gellerup (2007), and Vilborg (2010), and has participated in integration projects and to teach the Danish language to refugees. As patron of the Danish Refugee Council Mary visited Uganda (2008) and East Africa (2011) and supports fundraising for the region.

Mary has played an active role in promoting an anti-bullying program based on an Australian model through the auspices of Denmark's Save the Children.

Mary is also involved in a new campaign to raise awareness and safe practices among Danes about skin cancer through The Danish Cancer Society.

In September 2007 Mary formally established the Mary Foundation, with capital from public and private donations, to advance cultural diversity and encourage a sense of the right to belong and contribute to society for those who are socially isolated or excluded.

Mary was voted Woman of the Year 2008 by a Danish magazine, Alt for damerne. The Princess donated her cash reward to charity.

She was interviewed by Parade Magazine (USA) and television programs of Andrew Denton (Australia) and USA Today (USA).

As a native English-speaker, Mary's main priority from the time of her engagement was to master the Danish language. Mary has acknowledged that this was a challenge for her in several interviews at the time of her engagement and marriage.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark

Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, RE, SKmd (born 26 May 1968) is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark. Frederik is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Henrik, the Prince Consort.

Education and career

On 14 January 1972 he became Crown Prince of Denmark while his mother succeeded to the throne as Margrethe II.

The Crown Prince attended elementary school at Krebs' Skole during the years 1974–1981, from 1974–1976 as a private pupil at Amalienborg Palace, and from the third form at Krebs' Skole. In the period 1982–1983, the Crown Prince was a boarder at École des Roches in Normandy, France. In 1986, Crown Prince Frederik graduated from the upper secondary school of Øregaard Gymnasium.

In 1989, the Crown Prince began to study for an academic degree, when he began a course in Political Science at University of Aarhus. This included a year at Harvard University (1992–1993) under the name of Frederik Henriksen, studying political science. He then took up a position for three months with the Danish UN mission in New York in 1994. In 1995 Crown Prince Frederik obtained his MA degree in Political Science from University of Aarhus. He completed the course in the prescribed number of years with an exam result above average. His final paper was an analysis on the foreign policy of the Baltic States, which he had visited several times during his studies. The Crown Prince was posted as First Secretary to the Danish Embassy in Paris from October 1998 to October 1999.

He has completed extensive military studies and training in all three services, notably completing education as a sailor in the naval elite special operations forces (members of this are known as frogmen or frømænd in Danish). His frogman nickname is "Pingo".

In the period 2001 and 2002, the Crown Prince completed further training for leaders at the Royal Danish Defence College. Crown Prince Frederik remains active in the defence, and in the period 2002–2003 served as a staff officer at Defence Command Denmark, and from 2003 as a senior lecturer with the Institute of Strategy at the Royal Danish Defence College.

Marriage and children

In the Council of State on 8 October 2003, Queen Margrethe gave her consent to the marriage of Crown Prince Frederik to Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, an Australian marketing consultant whom the prince met when he was attending the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The wedding took place on 14 May 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral, Copenhagen.

On 25 April 2005 the Danish royal court announced that Crown Princess Mary was pregnant with the couple's first child, and on 15 October 2005 she gave birth to a Prince. As it is a tradition in the Royal House that kings are named either Frederik or Christian, the baby was baptised Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John on 21 January 2006.

On 26 October 2006, the Danish court announced that the Crown Princess was pregnant with her second child. On 21 April 2007, The Crown Princess gave birth to a baby daughter at Copenhagen University Hospital, the first Danish princess born since 1946. The Crown Prince was at his wife's side the entire time. Their daughter was christened Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe on 1 July 2007.

The Crown Princess gave birth to Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander at 10:30 am local time (weight 2.674 kg (5 lb 14 oz), length: 47 cm (18 in.), and Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda at 10:56 am (weight: 2.554 kg (5 lb 10 oz), length: 46 cm (18 in.) on 8 January 2011. The names were made public at their christening on Thursday, 14 April 2011, which took place at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Margrethe II of Denmark

Margrethe II (born 16 April 1940) is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1972 she became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375-1412 during the Kalmar Union.

Early life

Princess Margrethe was born on 16 April 1940 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. Her parents were the future Frederik IX and Ingrid of Sweden, then Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark.

She was baptised on 14 May 1940 in the Church of Holmen. The princess's godparents were King Christian X of Denmark, Prince Knud of Denmark, Prince Axel of Denmark, King Gustaf V of Sweden, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

Since her paternal grandfather, the then-reigning King Christian X, was also the King of Iceland at the time, and Margrethe until 1944 was an Icelandic princess, the Princess was as a tribute to the people of Iceland given an Icelandic name, Þórhildur, consisting of "Thor" and the word for "battle" or "fight". The name is spelled with the thorn letter, which is a surviving rune, and is equivalent to "th". It is sometimes anglicized as Thorhildur.

Margrethe has two younger sisters: Princess Benedikte (born 1944), who lives in Germany, and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (born 1946), who lives in London.

In mid-1960, together with the Princesses of Sweden and Norway, she traveled to the United States, which included a visit to Los Angeles, California, and to the Paramount Studios, where they were met by several celebrities, including Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley.

Heiress presumptive

At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark, owing to the changes in succession laws enacted in the 1850s when the Glücksburg branch was chosen to succeed. As she had no brothers, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne.

The process of changing the constitution started in 1947, not long after her father ascended the throne as Frederick IX and it became clear that Queen Ingrid would have no more children. The popularity of Frederik and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life started the complicated process of altering the constitution. That proposal had to be passed by two Parliaments in succession and then by a referendum, which was held on 27 March 1953. The new Act of Succession permitted female succession to the throne of Denmark, according to male-preference primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne only if she does not have a brother. Princess Margrethe therefore became the Heiress Presumptive.

On her eighteenth birthday, 16 April 1958, the Heiress Presumptive was given a seat in the Council of State, and the Princess subsequently chaired the meetings of the Council in the absence of the King.

Education and marriage

She studied prehistoric archaeology at Girton College, Cambridge during 1960–61, political science at Aarhus University between 1961–1962, at the Sorbonne in 1963, and at the London School of Economics in 1965, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

On 10 June 1967, Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark married a French diplomat, Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, at the Naval Church of Copenhagen. Laborde de Monpezat received the style and title of "His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark" because of his new position as the spouse of the Heiress Presumptive to the Danish throne.

Queen Margrethe is fluent in her native tongue, Danish; the native tongue of her husband, French; as well as English, Swedish and German.

Reign

Her father King Frederik IX died on 14 January 1972. On the occasion of her accession to the throne, Queen Margrethe II became the first female Danish Sovereign under the new Act of Succession. She was proclaimed Queen from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace Square by Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag on 15 January 1972. The Queen chose the motto: God's help, the love of The People, Denmark's strength.

In 2008 the Queen announced that her male-line descendants would bear the additional title of Count of Monpezat, which they inherit from the Queen's husband and consort, Henri-Marie-Jean André Count de Laborde de Monpezat.

She is the 1,188th Dame of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain and the 961st Knight/Lady of the Order of the Garter.

Personal life and interests

The official residences of the Queen and the Prince Consort are Amalienborg Palace and Fredensborg Palace in Copenhagen. Their summer residence is Gravenstein Castle near Sønderborg, the former home of the Queen's mother, Queen Ingrid, who died in 2000.

The Queen is an accomplished painter, and has held many art shows over the years . Her illustrations—under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer—were used for the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings published in 1977 and the re-issue in 2002. In 2000 she illustrated Henrik, the Prince Consort's poetry collection Cantabile. She is also an accomplished translator and is said to have participated in the Danish translation of The Lord of the Rings. She is also a costume designer and designs some of her own clothes.

Margrethe is a chain smoker, and she is famous for her tobacco habit. However, on 23 November 2006 the Danish newspaper B.T. reported an announcement from the Royal Court stating that the queen would never again be seen smoking in public. Still, the queen does continue to smoke but in the future she will do so only privately. The announcement is probably due to the fact that the Danish parliament recently has decided on strict rules concerning smoking.

She suffers from arthritis and has had both her knees replaced as a result.

A statement in a 2005 authorized biography about the Queen (entitled Margrethe) focused on her views of Islam: "We are being challenged by Islam these years. Globally as well as locally. There is something impressive about people for whom religion imbues their existence, from dusk to dawn, from cradle to grave. There are also Christians who feel this way. There is something endearing about people who give themselves up completely to their faith. But there is likewise something frightening about such a totality, which also is a feature of Islam. A counterbalance has to be found, and one has to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on you. For there are some things for which one should display no tolerance. And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction."

From : www.wikipedia.org