Some elements will be familiar to those who watched British celebrations following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III eight months later. There will be an announcement, a balcony scene, a speech by the King and a procession.
There will also be a golden cart, although it's only one. Margaret will ride on board to Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish government, where she will sign her abdication declaration. Frederick, as the new king, would get the carriage on the way back, while his mother would go by car.
But as a London-based correspondent who regularly covers the British royal family, I was immediately struck by the simplicity of what Denmark had planned. There will be no jeweled crowns too heavy, no anointing of the king with holy oil behind a curtain. While the British like to exaggerate pomp and pageantry, evoking ancient symbols of power, the Danes seem to take a more realistic approach.
“The British are very burdened with mysticism. This old man is being massaged with mysterious oils, it's very strange,” said Jacob Steen Olsen, a royal commentator for the Danish newspaper Berlingske.
He added: “The Danish method aims to show the relationship between democracy and monarchy,” in contrast to “what it was like in the old days.”
“In those days, the king decided our lives, and now it's the opposite,” Olsen told me. “We have a democracy. They serve us, not the other way around.”
According to modern Danish tradition, the prime minister is not just a guest at the succession to the throne, but the person who announces the new king. On the balcony of Christiansborg Palace on Sunday, Mette Frederiksen will turn in three different directions and say: “Long live His Majesty King Frederik X.”
The Danes have an anointing throne, made of unicorn horn, according to legend, or centipede tusk, modern analysis says. But they abandoned the anointing when they abolished absolute monarchy in the late 1840s. The throne is on display at Rosenborg Palace in Copenhagen.
And the crown? It is now reserved for the king's funerals, when it is placed on top of the coffin.
In Britain, people who object to the cost to taxpayers by royals often point to the “cycling kingdoms” of Scandinavia, which have managed to get by on much lower costs. The Danish monarchy has become a smaller operation since Margaret stripped four of her grandchildren of their prince and princess titles.
In 2022, $13 million in public funds will be allocated to members of the Danish royal family; The British royal family received $109 million. Elizabeth's funeral that year cost another $200 million. The cost of Charles' coronation has not yet been revealed, but some estimates put the amount at $125 million.
Will Denmark this weekend provide an alternative model for Britain as well?
“If it's so ordinary, does the magic disappear?” Olsen asked. “Or is the old idea of a high, god-like royal house changing?”
