This weekend, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie were in Braine, France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
During the First World War, Denmark was neutral but 35000 Danish soldiers at the border between Denmark and Germany fought for the German army. Indeed, Southern Jutland was part of the German Empire at the time. Southern Jutland was reunited with Denmark in 1920.
One of the Southern Jutland cities, Haderslev, is twinned with the French city of Braine where the only Danish Cemetery in France is located. It was officially reopened by Prince Joachim back in June 2013 and 79 fallen soldiers are buried there. Considering Prince Joachim and Princess Marie both lived in Southern Jutland for years and that Marie is French, it made sense that they were the ones representing the Danish royal family at these ceremonies.
On Saturday evening, they were welcomed by Braine’s mayor François Rampelberg before attending a friendship dinner. They also attended a concert of the Slesvigske Musikkorps at Saint-Yved Church. This concert was a gift from Haderslev to Braine.
Prince Joachim said: “I am pleased that so many participants from Sønderjylland have found their way to Braine to mark this important day. It’s been five years since I was here to reopen the Danish cemetery with fallen Danish soldiers from South Jutland, and now I’m happy to return and mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. “
On Sunday morning, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attended a church service and a ceremony at the Danish Cemetery where Joachim made a speech in French. You can listen to his speech here.
For this weekend of commemoration, Marie wore two fully recycled outfit. On Saturday, she wore her Azzato coat, paired with her Jimmy Choo pumps and her Bottega Veneta clutch. On Sunday, she carried the same Bottega Veneta clutch with a ufo coat that dates back to 2008.
Today, Princess Marie was in Glasgow, Scotland to attend the Scottish Autism 50th Anniversary Conference as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism.
Scottish Autism was established in 1968 by a group of parents and they are now the largest provider of autism-specific services in Scotland and a leading authority and advocate for good autism practice. Scottish Autism aims to “help those diagnosed with autism to lead full and enriched lives and become valuable members of the community they live in. We also seek to share our knowledge and expertise with parents, carers and other professionals in order to support the development of skills and strategies needed to provide the best care and support for autistic people. Building partnerships locally, nationally and internally provides us with the exciting opportunity to learn and share our knowledge of good autism practice with other countries. “
Scottish Autism’s Deputy CEO Charlene Tait is a member of the Council of Administration for Autism-Europe which is an association gathering almost 90 national and regional organizations advocating for the rights of autistic people from 30 European countries. Autism affects an estimated 50,000 people in Scotland or 1 in 100 people. In Denmark there are approximatively 70,000 people diagnosed with autism, it is more than 1 in 100.
Scottish Autism offers a wide range of support services for people with autism in Scotland: “We provide a wide range of flexible and innovative support services for children and adults across Scotland, each with a focus on improving quality of life. Central to this is recognizing that each person has a unique set of needs. We create personalized support plans which are based on an individual’s own strengths and motivations and on achieving outcomes which are meaningful to them.”
These support services include children services such as outreach support, respite, and short breaks services and education service to “take the time to build up a deep understanding of each young person, taking into account their processing and thinking style in order to maximize their learning potential. Our dedicated team of practitioners receives regular autism specific training and they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable each child and young person to have positive life experiences.”
But the association also focuses on support for adults such as supported living services which aim to help developing independence but also transition support services that aim “to assess an individual’s needs and build the skills and strategies required to enable them to move on to the most appropriate, sustainable and longer-term setting.”
Another important part of Scottish Autism’s support services is dedicated to the families in order to help them understand autism better and to help them whenever they need it but also to the professionals. Indeed the association has an advice line as well as a toolbox and training service available.
In order to celebrate their 50th anniversary, Scottish Autism organized several events all year with the big focus being this international two-day conference “Innovation in Autism Practice: The Future is Calling”.
The program of the conference was influenced by “a contemporary view that embraces autism as a developmental difference and focuses on a capacity view of the individual”. Scottish Autism also sponsored The Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) to host an Autism Fringe which included workshops, discussions and information sharing.
Princess Marie, as Patron of the Danish Association for Autism, made the opening speech after the welcoming speech by Charlene Tait. Sadly, the Court hasn’t updated Princess Marie’s speech yet but I’ll update the post as soon as they do. We do know she talked about the value of sharing knowledge and experience as well as the importance of working together to improve the lives of autistic people.
A passionate advocate for greater support & rights for autistic people, HRH Princess Marie is patron of Autism Denmark.
We are honoured to have HRH Princess Marie opening our conference & later meeting with Iceberg Film Productions – a group of autistic SA film makers #SAconf18pic.twitter.com/Q7efKS9oAP
After Princess Marie’s speech, Charlene Tait made a keynote speech called ‘The Future is Calling’.
#SAConf18@CharleneTait_SA talking about the negative language/imagery/narratives used when talking about autism "the things we say about people come true"…"the narrative is often deficit led"
Great intro to #SAConf18 @CharleneTait_SA “extraordinarily simple – if we want to know what autistic people want, we ask them”. Also reminded us that @MMCHealthPsy saw people not as a collection of challenges, -don’t try to change them. pic.twitter.com/dJb83D3hqx
The second keynote speech was held by Professor Roy Richard Grinker from the George Washington University called ‘Autism and the Disappearing Stigma of Mental Illness.’
Stigma is not a product of ignorance but of cultural social constructs of what is ‘the ideal person’. Well said Prof Rob Roy Grinker @scottishautism#SAConf18 What matters is not the word but the social/cultural implications of the word – autism.
Here’s a very important quote from Ruth Moyse’s seminar:
#SAConf18@mum2aspergirl : girls are capable of telling their stories but people don't think the girls' stories are as valuable or as valid as the stories of those around them
About Princess Marie attending the conference, Charlene Tait said: “We had the pleasure of meeting with Princess Marie at last year’s ‘Meeting of Minds’ autism event in Copenhagen to discuss a number of areas where Scotland and Denmark are working together in close collaboration. She is a real champion of the autism community and has been a great supporter of the joint working going on between ourselves and Autism Denmark. We look forward to welcoming her to Scotland and to hearing her speak at this year’s conference.”
Princess Marie indeed attended the Meeting of Minds conference last year in Copenhagen and I believe she will attend this year’s Meeting of Minds conference on November 29th although this wasn’t confirmed by the Court yet. This year’s theme is ‘Autism in Doubt’. According to the Danish Association for Autism’s website, some of the topics that will be discussed at the conference are :
“Co-occurring mental disorder”
“You don´t look autistic!”
“What is Autism?”
“Sex differences in boys and girls with ASD: Diagnostic criteria, stress, anxiety, and depression”
“Aging and being autistic: Lessons (not) learned.”
After the keynote speeches at the Scottish Autism Conference, seminars started while Princess Marie left the Grand Central Hotel where the conference was held to go to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum along with Deputy CEO Charlene Tait. The museum is part of an initiative along with the other eight Glasgow museums to become more autism aware. This year they launched a new programme of early openings, autism-friendly workshops, and resources. In 2017, three of those museums already made improvements and now have trained Autism Champions to raise staff awareness, visual storyboards and pre-visit information to help plan the visit and sensory kits that can be borrowed.
At the Museum, Princess Marie met with students from the Iceberg Productions including Jason Donaldson, Daniel Page, Lee Roibrown, Emma Stanley and John Sapseed. According to Scottish Autism’s press release: “Iceberg Productions is a group of young autistic film-makers which is based at Blue Central, one of Scottish Autism’s Day Services. This project is led by John Innes and Ian Noble of the Untold Motion Picture Company. Ian and John have considerable experience in film-making, photography and sound recording and work closely with Scottish Autism, running a number of film-making taster courses for the individuals supported by the charity. The aspiration is to enable autistic individuals who are interested in film-making to be part of an in-house production company.”
One of the students, Jason, was able to interview Princess Marie and he then took a selfie with her which was shared on his school’s twitter account. Jason is a student at the New Struan School which is a day and residential school for students between 5 and 19 years old. Their vision is “to enable our pupils to become included, confident learners in the community. We know that young people with autism can be successful learners and we strive to provide the structured and supportive environment which enables them to reach their full potential. ”
When asked by Jason what was the best thing about being a Princess, Marie said : “The best thing is to be out for a day like this and meet people like those I’ve met here today in Scotland.”
The school even has a rabbit named Freddie and he has his own twitter account! He even congratulated Jason for his meeting with Princess Marie and said that the class had been checking Twitter all day to see if there was any photo of Jason! Jason said Marie was lovely and it looks like it was an amazing moment for everyone involved!
Princess Marie and the students posed for a photo in front of their taxis at the end of the event and Glasgow Taxis tweeted that they were honored to be transporting Marie today.
Honoured to be transporting HRH Princess Marie of Denmark today, who is visiting Glasgow to speak at Scottish Autism’s international 50th Anniversary conference. A passionate advocate for greater support and rights for autistic people, HRH is patron of Autism Denmark. #SAconf18pic.twitter.com/3YFLWX3hTJ
You can see a video of Marie’s day in Glasgow here.
In the evening, Princess Marie attended the evening dinner at the Grand Central Hotel which is the Hotel where she stayed. Sadly, there is only one photo so far. I believe Marie wore a new dress but I’m not sure.
In their report about the day, the Danish Association for Autism said: “The Autism National Association expresses its sincere thanks to HKH Princess Marie for the great involvement in the autism area, both nationally and internationally – and for the amazing work of the protector and in the meeting with autistic people and their families. “
For this day in Scotland, Princess Marie wore a fully recycled outfit. She chose to wear a Giorgio Armani double-breasted that she first wore in 2014 and black trousers.
She paired the outfit with her Etui Bags grey clutch and ufo pumps from 2010. In one of the photos, we can see Marie carrying a new purple tote bag but I don’t have any ID for it yet.
She wore the same outfit except for the trousers when she debuted the jacket in 2014 at an event to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Epilepsy Children Hospital of Dianalund.
We’ll next see Princess Marie with Prince Joachim this weekend in Braine, France where they’ll commemorate the end of the First World War.
I have an exciting news to share with you! With thanks to Selina Juul, the founder of the Stop Wasting Food Movement (Stop Spild Af Mad) for letting me be one of the first to know.
On November 13th, Princess Marie will be the guest of honor of a dinner hosted by the Stop Wasting Food Movement. The international Stop Wasting Food Dinner will be hosted by Selina Juul and the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Denmark Henk Swarttouw and will focus on the fight against food waste. In addition to Princess Marie, guests will include the Danish Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen and high-level leaders from organizations and businesses. The hope is to make this dinner an annual tradition with a different embassy hosting each year.
The dinner’s main focus is to give the inspiration to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 which is to halve the global food waste by 2030. Selina Juul is a member of the Champions 12.3 coalition who are global ambassadors for the UN goal. Princess Marie has been focusing on the fight against food waste a lot in the past few years. She is now the Patron of the Better Food for More People – World Food Summit, she went to Washington DC last year to meet with the World Resources Institute, she gave TV interviews to Danish and international channels to promote the cause. This year alone, she helped launched new material focusing on food waste in schools, she opened the first Too Good To Go store in Denmark, she attended the World Food Summit and she visited the Danish Food Bank. The most memorable event related to food waste Princess Marie did this year though is when she hosted ten school children in her home to teach them about food waste.
About Princess Marie attending the dinner, Selina Juul said: “We are very thankful that H.R.H. Princess Marie will participate in our dinner against food waste – and we are very delighted for the Princess’ enthusiasm in the fight against food waste. Earlier this year in Stop Wasting Food, we had honor and pleasure to prepare a lunch with focusing on food waste at the Princess’ own home together with the Princess, the Princess’ children, and ten school children.”
The dinner will consist of a menu made out of surplus food and prepared by Dutch chef Lucas Jeffries – who works at the InStock restaurant which fights against food waste- and Danish chef Martin Jacobsen – who works at the Kadeau and the Nabo restaurants. The surplus food will include imperfect fruits and vegetables and any food that would have been wasted because it did not fit the supermarkets’ expectations (sometimes just because of a misplaced tag). The guests will have the opportunity to take the leftovers home in biodegradable boxes.
About hosting the dinner, Henk Swarttouw said: “During the last 10 years, the Danish consumers are starting to become aware of the gigantic food waste in Denmark, which annually reaches 700.000 tonnes. It’s also important to get all the decision makers onboard the agenda – and that is why we are hosting this dinner; to activate and inspire Denmark’s leading key stakeholders, who can anchor the agenda in their respective organizations and projects.”
As always, you can read more about the Stop Wasting Food Movement here and I’ll have a way more detailed post on November 13th.
Now catching up quickly on Marie’s last event. She attended a Fire & Rescue team training exercise at Copenhagen Airport on October 26th. The aim of the exercise was to prepare the team to intervene as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Marie has been working with the Danish Emergency Management Agency as a special project assistant since June 2016 and her main focus is prevention. After the exercise, Marie had the opportunity to meet with the team and to visit the Vilhelm Lauritzen Terminal. The court released a short video.
I can’t tell you much about her outfit other that she wore her old double-breasted By Malene Birger coat.
Princess Marie had an event scheduled for November 8th in Glasgow, Scotland but it was taken off the calendar and the Court hasn’t given any explanation yet. We should see Prince Joachim and Princess Marie in Braine, France on November 11th but that won’t be confirmed by the Court until tomorrow’s official calendar update. Until then, Princess Marie’s next confirmed event is the International Stop Wasting Food Dinner on November 13th.
Tonight, Queen Margrethe hosted a gala dinner for members of the Government, members of the Danish Parliament and Danish members of the European Parliament. Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, and Princess Benedikte were in attendance. Crown Prince Frederik could not attend as he is currently in Sydney, Australia where he is attending the Invictus Games.
This dinner is held once during each parliamentary term so every four years at Christiansborg Palace which is the Palace where the Danish Parliament is. The first gala was held 60 years ago in 1958.
It was hosted by King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid. Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik followed this tradition once she became Queen in 1972 and they even created a tradition of their own following the same pattern. Indeed, since 1976, a gala dinner for important members of Danish arts and culture is held every four years, reflecting the late Prince Henrik’s passion for art.
During this evening, the guests first greet the members of the royal family one by one before enjoying dinner and music.
The soprano Signe Sneh Durholm and the pianist Peter Mollerhoj performed before a surprise appearance by comedian Soren Ostergaards who appeared as his character “Smadremanden” and provided a lot of entertainment for all the guests.
You can see a video of the arrival of the guests and the royal family here.
Princess Marie wore a fully recycled outfit. She wore a modified version of the black Ole YDE gown she debuted during the State Visit from Iceland to Denmark in January 2017. This time, the sleeves were longer than the first time she wore it.
She paired the gown with jewels from her favorite Danish jeweler Christine Hvelplund. She had owned the earrings and the bracelet for a while now and we see them often. She chose the same jewels back in 2017. She also wore a ring but I haven’t seen any good close up so I can’t say anything about it.
She decided to carry her ufo silver clutch and she wore the same black patent leather pumps as in 2017 and they are also ufo.
Princess Marie’s next event is on Friday when she’ll meet with Preparedness Units at Copenhagen Airport. There will be no press access but we may get information and photos from social media.
Last night, the Danish royal family attended a concert to celebrate Iceland’s 100 years of sovereignty at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. The concert was organized by the Danish parliament and the royal family was joined by the Icelandic Presidential couple, the Danish Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament and the President of the Icelandic Parliament.
Iceland was part of Denmark’s kingdom for 500 years until a federal law was passed in 1918 and made Iceland an independent country. The law stated that Iceland would still be a monarchy and be led by the Danish monarch but that the country could decide to stop this arrangement after 25 years and become a Republic. This is what happened in June 1944 after a vote by the Icelandic people.
Princess Marie wore a new long dress by Brazilian designer Raquel Diniz. It’s the ‘Armonia’ dress in a gorgeous shade of green. It features a keyhole and several slits in the skirt.
We’ll next see Prince Joachim and Princess Marie at the gala dinner hosted by Queen Margrethe for the Danish Parliament and the European Parliament on October 2
