Netflix has hired Queen of Denmark as set designer on new Netflix film. She is, however, not the first royal to join the Netflix family – Meghan Markie and Prince Harr signed a multiyear deal with the streaming company last year. Learn more about Queen Margrethe Of Denmark making headlines.
Having celebrated her 80th birthday last year, Queen Margrethe of Denmark has no intention of retiring. Now, an exciting new side gig takes place in addition to her royal duties. The queen has been hired as a set designer for the upcoming adaption of Karen Blixen’s fantasy novel Ehrengard, overseeing scenography and costumes in the lead-up to its premiere in 2023.
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Based on a 1962 novella by Danish author Karen Blixen (writing under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen), Ehrengard also has royal elements. The story takes place in the fairytale kingdom of Babenhausen, and follows Cazotte, a young “self-appointed expert on love”, who’s hired by the scheming Grand Duchess to help her secure an heir for the shy, awkward crown prince. Naturally, the plan backfires, and an heir ends up being conceived out of wedlock, forcing the royal family to go into hiding, and forcing Cazotte to acknowledge the limitations of his expertise on love.
Ehrengard will be directed by Bille August, the veteran Danish director of Pelle the Conqueror (which won both the Palme d’Or and Oscar for best foreign language film in 1988) and The Best Intentions (which won August a second Palme d’Or).
Ehrengard was first produced in 1982 by Italian film directed Emidio Greco. It premiered at the 1982 Venice International Film Festival. However, due to the bankruptcy of the producers, it was not released theatrically until 2002.
Margrethe ascended to the Danish throne in 1972 and is commander-in-chief of the country’s defence forces. This is, however, far from the Queen’s first design job. She’s an accomplished painter and illustrator who’s designed costumes for the Royal Danish Ballet in the past, and contributed drawings to a 1970s Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings, and exhibitions at galleries including the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Ishøj near Copenhagen. She also has screen credits as a production designer on the 2009 fantasy fairy tale The Wild Swans, and a short film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen in 2000.
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In a statement, Margrethe said: “Karen Blixen’s stories have always fascinated me, with their aesthetic tales, their imagination and their, to me, image-creating worlds – and I’m very happy to be part of this project. I have tried to interpret Blixen’s fantastic universe in the creation of the decoupages and costumes and I’m looking forward to seeing the tale of Ehrengard come to life in this film.”
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“The Queen has created the most fantastic decoupages for the occasion, and they will be the dominant feature of the film’s overall scenographic expression,” director Bille August said in a statement. “‘Fantastic’ (in the most literal sense) is our starting point for the film; we wish to use humor and elegance to create a devil-may-care, burlesque, fabulous and autonomous visual universe.”
Queen Margrethe made headlines earlier this year when she became the first European royal to publicly receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Queen Margrethe Of Denmark Makes Headlines, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top) Photo © Kongehuset, Danmark