Well, Thor's morning ritual of looking at the on-line headlines gave us the news that the wait is over. Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik have now jointly produced their first child, thus ensuring the further continuation of the world's oldest direct monarchy. I have no reason to be excited about this, but find it exciting anyway, which is good as it will be the main topic of conversation pretty much everywhere in the country for an interminable amount of time (if the buzz which occurred before, during and after their wedding last year can be anything to go by).
The main birth-related event right now is Frederik's first meeting with the press after the birth. The article refers to Frederick as 'den nybagte far' or literally 'the newly baked father', 'nybagt' being the normal way of referring to newborns in Danish. Mary and baby haven't emerged from their room at Rigshospitalet yet. It is also of course just possible that the couple have given birth to an invisible baby, as shown by the picture of Frederik, which is clearly the photo of the moment so far. Frederik said also that 'the baby is sleeping soundly and has no idea what awaits him'. A press frenzy, no doubt.
You can also see an English version of the press meeting here and a good overview of Mary's transition from Australian businesswoman to Danish royal is given here.
Two baby related issues are:
The name: Apart from the current Queen Margarethe, the last 20 or so Danish Kings have been named (in order), Christian, Frederik, Christian, Frederik, Christian, Frederik...do you sense any pattern? No one doubts that the new one will be named Christian, though wouldn't it be great if they chose something else? Probably by this point, the whole royal family is afraid of jinxing the monarchy if they don't stick to the historical order (though the earlier kings had cool names, too, like Harald, Valdemar, and Gorm - well, methinks they can do without a Prince Gorm actually). As for the rest of the little guy's names, no one seems to know, except that there may be three of them, making him Prince Christian Something Something Something of Denmark.
The gender issue: Queen Margarethe is Queen because there was no direct male heir to the throne, and I believe that the Parliament had to do something to allow for this break in the order of succession. The big question soon after the pregnancy was announced was 'What if it's a girl?' The answer is that Parliament will most likely be changing the constitution so that the right to the throne goes to the oldest, regardless of gender. I believe this is against the wishes of the Queen herself, but not against the wishes of the majority of Danes.
Oh, and both Mother and baby are doing well.
15 kommentarer:
'nybagt' give a new meaning to 'bun in the oven'!
How long have you been in Denmark?
Katie, hi and thanks for visiting...I've been in Denmark since December of 2003, and it's been an adventure, but worth it! Oh, and apparently, the Danish equivalen would be a 'cake in the oven' ('kage i oven').
Sangroncito-I will support you in your battle for the crown. Or, better yet, how 'bout we do our own personal Tratado de Tordesilhas, and divide the world into your empire and mine? I'd like Copenhagen and Portugal, but you are welcome to Jutland (well, you do have ancestors from Aarhus, yes?) and Brazil. On a more controversial note, I'd also like the SF bay area (well, I am a third generation San Franciscan after all), but you can visit whenever you want, and can have the rest of the U.S. What do you say?
hey, if you royals are handing out land don't forget about your trusty advisors. I'd like some land near Tuscany and maybe the nation of New Zealand. come on, I'll be your best friend :)
I think that it is cool about a monarchy lasting that long. truly mind boggling.
Oops, sorry Daph, I was thinking too closely of the real Tratado de Tordesilhas, where only two (Portugal and Spain) could play. You'll need to confer with Sangroncito, but Italy (why not take all of it) and New Zealand sound good to me. I think you should have Ireland, Houston, Kansas and Southern California, too, if there are no objections.
Chibithulhu disapproves of your plan. He already has dibs on all human-populated areas of the planet. and newly baked father tastes nowhere near as good as fresh-baked baby.
Well, Chibithulhu, my recent re-reading of 'At the Mountains of Madness' makes it clear that you already have Antarctica, and various caves beneath the Earth. Isn't that enough?
And newly baked babies reminds me of a joke. Two cannibals are talking. The first is complaining:
1st) My dinner last night was horrible...he tasted terrible, all stringy and dry.
2nd) Well, how did you prepare him?
1st) I boiled him, just like I always do.
2nd) Oh, that's usually pretty good. What kind of person was he, anyway?
1st) Actually, he was a Franciscan monk.
2nd) Oh, there's your problem then. You can't boil them - they're friars
Thanks for your comments on my blog, Planet Shortbread. I greatly appreciate it. Your blog looks interesting; I'll keep an eye on it.
Thanks again!
what a hilarious joke! I can see me repeating this everywhere.
Dawn Frost, thanks for your visit...feel free to come back anytime!
Daphnewood - yeah, I've always liked it. It's especially good for use when in monasteries. I only wish I can remember who told it to me!
I think I would like to be a princess. Hand me that crown.
Chibithulhu does not have antarctica. the Elder Things, cylindrical beings you humans keep calling "God" just because they made the shoggoths from which humans were formed, have antarctica. Chibithulhu has the pacific ocean, which would be nice except he's really a New Englander at heart. Chibithulhu wants Providence.
Leslie, are you sure there's a crown? Cool! It's all yours!
Chibithulhu - Oh, yeah, the Elder Gods, erm, Things. That's right. Teach me to read my Lovecraft one page a day while on the train! As for Providence, are you sure you want it? I say it's yours, but you may have to fight some others for it. Oh, and tentacles off of Celephais, in Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian hills. It's mine.
Hvordan går det smukke engel?
Duh... my last name's Jensen... dad's from Copenhagen
Tillykke half naked day to you
Gud velsigne dig
Romey (a Danish Prince) hehehehe
Goddag Hr. Jensen, thanks for your visit. And happy HNF (half-nekkid Friday, of course) to you, too!
you can have Celephais. Ulthar belongs to Bast, as it always has, and I shall be atop Unknown Kadath. and it's really not that complicated a distinction. Elder Things are what you would call aliens and the inventors of shoggoths - they colonized earth after travelling through your human three dimensional space. Elder Gods is what August Derleth called the standard human pantheons because he was not very bright and trying to sound like he had a sense of the cosmic. Old Ones is HPL's original term for the Elder Things, Great Old Ones refers to my kind. Nyarlathotep, Shub Niggurath, Hastur, and the like.
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