Queen Margrethe, who surprised her country by abdicating earlier this year, is back as ballet costume designer with Denmark’s famed Tivoli amusement park that celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Learn more about abdicated Queen Margrete of Denmark creating new ballet costumes.
Since childhood, The Queen has been strongly interested in the worlds of theatre and especially ballet, inspired particularly by Frederik IX’s enjoyment in this regard. Early on, Princess Margrethe went with her parents to the Royal Theatre, where in 1948 she attended August Bournonville’s ballet Napoli, which made a deep impression on the Princess.
Since 1970, The Queen has been actively engaged in a number of artistic modes of expression: painting, church textiles, watercolors, prints, book illustrations, découpage works, scenography and embroidery. She is an honorary member of the Association of Danish Scenographers for her many years of work as a set designer in Danish film, television and theater.
From the mid-1980s and 30 years onwards, The Queen helped with the annual ballet performances at a friend’s dance school in Næstved, where the wing scenery and costumes were conjured up with enormous imagination from materials at hand. Quite special were the performances’ numerous paper hats, which The Queen thought up and created herself.
In 2021, 81 years old, the Queen of Denmark was hired by Netflix as a set designer for the adaption of Karen Blixen’s fantasy novel Ehrengard.
The 83-year-old-queen, who has designed costumes and stage sets more than a dozen of times at the Tivoli gardens’ Pantomine theater, is now creating the costumes and set for a ballet based on a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, “Klods Hans,” or “Clumsy Hans.”
Queen Margrethe was Denmark’s much loved monarch for over 50 years.
Abdicated Queen Margrete of Denmark Creating New Ballet Costumes, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): © photo Keld Navntoft/Tivoli