The Royalty Nerd

The Spanish royals have been to Denmark for anniversaries, weddings, birthdays, etc., but did you know that this is the first state visit since 1980? Yep!

Spanish Departure:

One thing I love about the Spanish royals is that we usually get to see them leave home when they go on trips. We don’t get that a lot with many families! The King and Queen departed Spain, Felipe with his arm still in a brace (he has tendonitis) and Letizia in a heavy coat and lime green blazer.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure what’s going on with this blazer. I can’t tell if the one button is black or if it’s just the lighting. I’m also not crazy about the colour, but the single button on the bottom gives it a cool twist. This blazer is from Hugo Boss, for anyone wishing to grab their own lime green jacket!

Day 1: November 6th-Copenhagen

Touch down in Cophenhagen! Queen Letizia had changed, as was usual for royals arriving for a visit, this time with a beige trench from & Other Stories. The Danish royals greeted them on the tarmac before heading back to Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg.

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L-R: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, King Felipe VI of Spain, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Letizia of Spain, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

Mary wore a coat from The Fold, a dress from Scanlan Theodore, and a brooch from Ole Lynggaard. Queen Letizia wore a dress from Carolina Herrera.

During this time, there was a private exchange of gifts and orders.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia received the Danish Order of the Elephant. This is an order of chivalry and Denmark’s highest honour. What’s interesting about these specific orders, seen above, is that Denmark reuses them. So it’s unclear who originally owned those orders, it could have been any royal in the past that has since passed away.

The orders were not one way; Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark also received the Grand Cross of Spain’s Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic!

King Felipe VI is Prince Vincent’s godfather, so we also got a cute snap of the two before the King met up with the Danish Prime Minister.

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A gala dinner took place in the evening. This is what we had all been waiting for.

Queen Margrethe II wore a Birgitte Thaulow gown and the Danish emerald tiara. This tiara is part of the Danish Crown Jewels, and is considered their grandest tiara. I expected her to pull it out for Christian’s 18th birthday last month, but she didn’t, so I’m pleased to see it here. A state visit 43 years in the making is definitely the occasion to break out the big gun tiara!

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The King and Queen of Spain stepped out in their new orders! Queen Letizia wore a Felipe Varela gown and the Fleur de Lis tiara. This is also called ‘La Buena’, and is part of Spain’s Joyas de Pasar, a collection of jewels organized by Queen Ena of Spain to pass from one Spanish monarch to another. This is Spain’s big gun tiara, and Letizia appropriately broke it out for the occasion.

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Here’s another shot of it, for good measure. She also wore a pair of sapphire earrings belonging to Queen Sofía.

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Princess Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg attended as well. She is Queen Margrethe’s younger sister and you can often spot her at Danish events. She wore the SWB fringe tiara for the night.

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Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark were obviously in attendance as well. Mary wore her Lasse Spangenberg gown, which is one of my favourites, and her necklace tiara, which was… a disappointment.

Listen, I realize this is a silly thing to get rilled up about. But if you’re not going to wear the grandest tiara available to you (the Danish rubies) for your son’s 18th birthday party, sure. If you’re not going to wear it to a significant state visit though? Come one now Mary. I hope the rubies are being worked on at least, and that’s why we haven’t seen them. I also just don’t particularly like a lot of the tiaras Mary has at her disposal, so to see a repeat of one I really don’t like? Again, yes, I realize that this is silly to get worked up about but I royal watch all day every day okay? I don’t have a life.

Anyway, both Queen Margrethe and King Felipe gave speeches, and it was a fun glittery evening overall.

Day 2: November 7th- Copenhagen

Day two of the visit started bright and early with the King of Spain and Crown Prince Frederik jointly opened the Spain-Denmark Business Forum where they both gave speeches. The forum focused on the cooperation of Spanish and Danish businesses and how opportunities are present in Denmark for Spanish companies to work with as it pertains to green energy and technology.

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Later on in the morning, the King and Crown Prince met back up with the Queen and Crown Princess in order to lay a wreath at the Monument at The Citadel. This is a memorial for Danish citizens that are deployed abroad, have been deployed abroad, and those that have died while serving Denmark abroad.

Afterwards, they all arrived at Copenhagen City Hall, where Queen Margrethe was in attendance as well. They all signed the guest book, and heard a speech from the Lord Mayor. They also had a traditional pancake meal!

The tradition of serving pancakes at City Hall events for visiting royal guests goes back to 1928, when King Albert, King of the Belgians visited Denmark. They served pancakes as a dessert and everyone loved it so much that it’s been a tradition ever since.

They then visited the University of Copenhagen, which in my opinion is the coolest part of this trip. They were able to see the ‘El Libro de Los Epitomes’. It dates to sometime in the 1500’s, and (as I understand it) belonged to Hernando Colon, who was Christopher Columbus’ son. The book was a description of every book that Hernando had in his library; 2000 books total! He had the largest collection of books in Seville in the 16th century. After Hernando’s death in 1539, the book disappeared. However, it was found in 2018 at the University of Copenhagen.

Besides seeing the book, they also spoke with Spanish scholars from the University of Copenhagen and other institutions in Denmark, and got to see select pieces from the Danish Royal Library that relate to Danish-Spanish relations.

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Queen Letizia and Crown Princess Mary then visited Rigshospitalet, where they discusseed Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital, which focuses on children and teens as well as pregnant women.

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Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital is under construction, but there was a model of what it will look like upon completion. It’s set to open in 2026 and is named after Crown Princess Mary!

During this time, King Felipe and Crown Prince Frederik had lunch with Spanish businessmen. King Felipe also met with the Speaker of the Danish Parliament and members of Parliament at Christianborg Palace.

For the daytime events, Queen Letizia wore a Dándara dress and a Carolina Herrera coat. Crown Princess Mary wore a Valentino top, Dolce and Gabbana skirt, and a coat from Joseph Kido.

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In the evening, Crown Princess Mary wore a black top and a skirt from H&M’s Conscious Collection. Queen Letizia wore a dress from Rotate Birger Christensen, a Danish brand.

They visited the Joaquín Sorolla: Light in Motion exhibition, which features several pieces from the painter, as well as pieces from other Spanish artists. The exhibition is only open until March 2024, so if you want to see it, you better go soon!

They were also joined by Princess Benedikte for a dinner at the exhibition.

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Now this is where things get messy. During the dinner, a Spanish tabloid published photos of Crown Prince Frederik entering the home of Genoveva Casanova, who was at one point married to the 14th Count of Salvatierra, 4th Duke of Arjona, but probably better known as the son of the 18th Duchess of Alba. They were spotted walking around at night, and he was pictured leaving her home quite early the next day. The tabloid came prepared, and it doesn’t look too good for Frederik. For her part, Genovena has denied an affair, but the Danish royal family made a very basic statement that said they do not comment on personal issues. Regardless of what happened, from this point on, Mary seemed very uncomfortable.

Day 3: November 8th-Copenhagen

It was time to say goodbye! King Felipe and Queen Letizia bid farewell to Queen Margrethe (and doggie friend), but not before signing the guestbook and a windowpane.

Yes, a window pane. This is another fun Danish royal tradition; since 1841 royal guests or heads of state that make overnight visits sign a window pane for display.

The visit was not yet over though. The King and Queen of Spain met with the Crown Prince Couple at the Danish Architecture Centre for a roundtable on sustainable development in urban settings as well as a look at an exhibition on Danish development in Copenhagen since the 1940s.

For this engagement, Queen Letizia wore a bright pink Carolina Herrera coat and a Ralph Lauren dress. Crown Princess Mary wore a Scanlan Theodore pantsuit.

And that was it! A state visit 40+ years in the making, over in just three days.

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Until next time!