Prince Joachim had was busy this week with three official events covered by the Court. He presented the Wegner Prisen on April 2nd with Princess Marie so you can read that post here.
Before jumping into what Prince Joachim did this week, I wanted to warn you that Prince Joachim and Princess Marie don’t have an official event until April 16th when they’ll celebrate Queen Margrethe’s birthday. As always, if I get any news about Marie before then, I’ll write a new post and if I get any news about Joachim, I’ll post about them on social media and then write a Keeping Up with Prince Joachim post on Friday.
On April 3rd, Prince Joachim attended the ‘Knowledge of Veterans’ annual conference as Patron of the Danish Association for Veterans in Vingsted. The conference is attended by various veterans from all over the country and members of the Armed Force to share knowledge and further develop the cooperation. This year’s theme was ‘Insight & Vision’. The conference takes part in the Veteran Center which was inaugurated in 2011 and aims to gather and coordinate support for soldiers, veterans and relatives, both before, during and after deployment.
Prince Joachim made a speech in which he said that “Denmark has a responsibility for their veterans” and that “veterans are always useful, there is always something they can do”. He also put the emphasis on the relatives of the veterans saying: “relatives must be recognized on an equal footing with the veterans”. He then took part in several workshops with other veterans. The workshops taking place during the conference included “Ways to get out of loneliness”, “Taking care of yourself” and “Are all veterans sick?”.
In a video for Forsvaret (the Armed Forces), Prince Joachim said: “Veterans as a whole are a truly unique, small crowd.Whether they are challenged in one way or another or whether they are even stronger and resourceful than when they were sent abroad. So the crowd of veterans is not only an asset to society, they are also an asset where they come and that is because they have a very special DNA, cultivated through missions abroad, and you never lose it again. These people, they can do something that every employer should track down, and you should not categorize them into a very, very small, sticky box, you really have to see them as individuals, as living people, and then find the place where they fit into that company- or it may be a public body where they make sense- because then they help to lift the small unit where they are, so the small entity cuts the whole community.”
On April 4th, Prince Joachim attended a ceremony celebrating NATO’s 70th anniversary at the Kastellet in Copenhagen.
The North Atlantic Treaty, was signed in Washington DC on April 4, 1949. 12 countries signed the treaty : Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States. Today, 29 countries are members of NATO.
When Prince Joachim arrived, he inspected the parade and the Music Corps played ‘Prins Joachims March’. Prince Joachim laid a wreath at the Monument of Denmark’s International Initiative which was created in 2011 to recognize the Danish soldiers efforts during missions abroad. The inscription ‘A Time – A Place – A Human’ is written on the monument.
Prince Joachim also made a speech but the Court hasn’t released it yet. I will update the post if they do. After the ceremony, he attended a reception with Danish veterans. This event was organized by the Danish Association of Veterans of which Prince Joachim is Patron.
Princess Marie's Closet 