Every New Year’s Eve, TV technicians have converted the queen’s reception room in Christian IX’s Palace at Amalienborg into a TV studio. She has sat down behind the desk with her script, since 2016 stapled together in the left corner – we will come back to exactly that story a little later. The producer signals that it is 6 pm and that the speech can begin. For the first minute, the camera almost imperceptibly zooms in on the queen. She speaks. The people are listening. Every year, this speech gathers well over 2 million Danes in front of the TV screen. STRAIGHT: There is only one camera that films the speech, but there is another on standby in case of technical problems. The room the speech is held in is so small that the camera has to be in the doorway. Here you can also see the light rig on the ceiling above the Queen. Photo: Keld Navntoft / NTB Direkte. No possibility to change. No possibility to correct errors. And maybe that’s why it’s so strong. Long history If you are invited to a New Year’s party in Denmark, then the time is of course. You must be in place “for the queen”. Everyone knows what that means. No one is so rude that they come throwing five past six. Queen Margrethe’s grandfather, Christian X, was the first Danish monarch to address the Danish people directly on New Year’s Eve. It happened in 1941 and of course on the radio. Frederik 9th became the first to speak on TV, in 1958. It has been like this ever since. THE FIRST: On New Year’s Eve 1972, the then 32-year-old Queen Margrethe gave her first of 52 live New Year’s speeches. Photo: STEEN JACOBSEN / Scanpix Denmark And that’s how it was when Queen Margrethe started as usual at 18:00 on New Year’s Eve almost two weeks ago. No one thought this was any different. The Danes held their champagne glasses, ready to vote in a “God save Denmark”, as she always ended her speeches. Then the party could continue. Everything would be as before. But the Denmark we have known for 52 years will never be quite the same. Not after what happened approx. eleven minutes past six.«In 14 days I will have been Queen of Denmark for 52 years. Such a long time does not pass without a trace for any person – not even me,” she said. Denmark held its breath. “She’s leaving? She’s going strong!” people around me said in low voices. Whether it was for himself or the neighbor, I don’t know. Maybe it was both. A minute later she said the historic words: “(…) step down as Queen of Denmark”. I put down an almost untouched glass of champagne, threw the piece of cake into the nearest bin. And called the editors in Oslo. It was a New Year’s speech with a build-up of tension a Nobel Prize winner in literature could envy her. GREENLAND: The then Princess Margrethe during her first visit to Greenland, aged 20 in 1960. In her New Year’s speeches there is always a greeting to the other two countries in the Commonwealth (Greenland and the Faroe Islands). Photo: Allan Moe / Reuters She had talked about the terrorist attack in Israel and the subsequent war in the Middle East. She said it was unfortunate that anti-Semitism is once again spreading in Denmark. In her usual way, she had looked up from the script and into the camera, and asked people in Denmark to treat each other with respect. The trip went on to Ukraine, climate and her grandson Prince (soon to be Crown Prince) Christian’s eighteenth birthday celebration. She had greeted the people of Greenland, the Faroe Islands, South Schleswig and Danes abroad. Even brought up artificial intelligence (much to the delight of people who had put their money on her wanting to talk about it. Which made the odds pretty high). NO BINGO: The undersigned’s New Year’s speech bingo did not go in. Every year you can guess which words are said in the New Year’s speech and win a small amount of money if you win “bingo”. Historic speeches I heard the news alerts ringing on the phone and ran to the car to get the broadcasting equipment. This was going to be the top story in Dagsrevyen that evening – that is, in a few minutes. While I was looking for a nice place to stand to report, I thought a little about what these speeches have really meant for Denmark and the Danish people over 52 years. Many of Queen Margrethe’s New Year’s speeches belong in the history books. She has on several occasions, more or less, taken the Danes for granted. The most devoted royalists will probably go so far as to say that she has guided the Danes at times. SMELL: For 52 years, the Danes have started the New Year celebrations with the Queen’s speech and ended with fireworks. Photo: Reuters Because even though it is, and always has been, a non-political speech, Daisy, which is her pet name, has made a mark and left a mark. Not just because she is very fluent and knows how to present a message. The message has also many times gone straight home to the Danes. Already in 1976, in her fifth New Year’s speech, she addressed selfishness: The speech in 1984 is perhaps one of the more iconic, but also controversial, in Danish history. Here she urged the Danes to treat immigrants and refugees nicely: The speech is special because she does not talk down to the people, but includes herself. It is “we” who make the stupid remarks It is “we” who meet them with coolness. But not everyone liked her becoming so political. In 2003, Queen Margrethe had discovered SMS, which she found a little disturbing: It is perhaps fair to say that the queen was ahead of her time in this particular field. And as far as I know, Queen Margrethe still has no mobile phone. Certainly to some frustration from children, and not least grandchildren. But there is probably a court marshal you can call, if the need arises. Had to shuffle the cards It has also gone wrong. The story from 2015 tells that she had her own calling card where she had written that her husband, Prince Henrik, had decided to retire. MESS: Queen Margrethe during the New Year’s speech in 2015, when there was a bit of a mess with the speech cards. Observers will also notice that the setting for the speech is different. This year it was held in Havesalen at Fredensborg Castle, due to restoration work at Amalienborg. Photo: DR But the card was in the wrong place in the pile. The Danes got to see a queen who stoically flipped through all the cards, found the right one and continued as if nothing had happened. That’s live TV. The following year, and in all speeches since, the cards have been stapled together. Even a queen learns from her mistakes. In 2019, the queen would probably prefer to be under the covers at 6pm on New Year’s Eve. But there have been 52 speeches. All direct. No one has ever stepped in. Not this year either, when the winter cold had also come to Amalienborg. Everyone who heard the speech realized that the queen was struggling with a runny nose. But twice, completely undisturbed, she picked up the handkerchief and wiped her nose quickly and efficiently with one hand. Then she continued as if nothing had happened. What now? We didn’t know it at 6pm on New Year’s Eve last year. But we know now. It was Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, Her Majesty the Queen’s last New Year’s speech. DIFFERENT: “You master the word. I miss it sometimes. You are into classics. I’m into rock”. This is how Crown Prince Frederik himself summed up the differences between him and his mother when she celebrated fifty years on the throne in 2022. Photo: AFP I myself stood in the rain in the middle of Copenhagen and tried to convey the atmosphere in the country to Dagsrevyen’s viewers. And that was perhaps one reason why the light on the lamp I had set up turned on and off a couple of times. For completely inexplicable reasons. A little light. And a little dark. Sad, but at the same time a celebration of 52 years as a popular and loved queen. The future king has big shoes to fill in many ways. Not least when it comes to gathering the Danes around the televised campfire at about the same time as the red deer fillet is finished and the first glass of champagne is drunk. 18.00. New Year’s Eve. His Majesty King Frederik’s New Year’s speech. It still sounds a little strange. The question is whether it will be just as important to arrive at the New Year party in time “to the king” this year.
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