This January 1, 2025, the Danish royal family was truly in full force for their first engagement of the new year. Even Prince Joachim was surprised to be present at this reception organized for the first time by his older brother, King Frederik : velvet and tiara.
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Prince Joachim ensures his first engagement of the year 2025 with his family in Denmark
King Frederik of the year 2024. Frederik X will arrive in a few days, at the end of his “first times”. For his first New Year's reception, King Frederik X was able to count on the presence of all active members of the royal family.
King Frederik Queen Margrethe, for her part, attended the event for the first time at the evening, without being the organizer. She was accompanied by her faithful sister, Princess Benedikte. Finally, the biggest surprise of the evening was certainly the presence of Prince Joachim, who arrived at the Christian VII Palace in Amalienborg, in Copenhagen, with his wife.
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Prince Joachim attends his first 2025 engagement in Denmark before returning to Washington
Prince Joachim, 55, whose relationship with his older brother has not always been the easiest, returned to Denmark this Wednesday. The presence of Joachim, 5th in the line of succession to the Danish throne, means a lot and is certainly symbolic. Queen Margrethe's second son wanted to be present at the first official event of the royal family, he who is still an active member of the Royal Household. Joachim now works as a Danish Defense attaché abroad. His state pension is now transformed into a salary for his work accomplished during this mission. After carrying out this mission at the Danish Embassy in Paris, he has carried out this same mission at the Danish Embassy in Washington since September 2023.
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Prince Joachim makes a few rare trips between the United States and Denmark throughout the year, for personal and official reasons. Joachim, for example, returned to Copenhagen during his mother's abdication in order to witness the transfer of the throne to his brother. He also made a brief appearance with his brother during an exceptional return to Denmark to attend a funeral in August. On the other hand, Prince Joachim did not spend Christmas in Denmark this year, having given preference to his in-laws in France. Princess Marie made a few engagements in Denmark the previous year and even attended the state banquet given in honor of the Egyptian president on December 6. That evening, Princess Marie was not accompanied by Prince Joachim.
Despite rumors of disagreement between the two brothers, Joachim is loyal to Frederik and his presence at the very first engagement of the year shows his desire to continue his work within the royal family. This first reception was organized in honor of the government. Remember that Prince Joachim is officially an active member on the agenda of the Royal House and an appanage is granted to him by the government for this work.
To attend this event, Princess Marie wore a navy blue velvet dress by Rikke Gudnitz. Queen Mary, Queen Margrethe and Princess Benedikte also wore a velvet dress and their tiara. This Wednesday evening, Princess Marie chose to wear Princess Dagmar's floral tiara. All members of the royal family, including Joachim and Marie, wore their Order of the Elephant necklaces, Denmark's highest honour.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
