The Queen has received a miniature portrait of The King. The portrait was created by the British artist Tom Mulliner and set in a gold frame with brilliant diamonds. The frame was once made for Empress Amelie of Brazil. As The Empress was childless, the frame was passed on to The Empress’s sister, Queen Josefina of Sweden. Later, the frame was passed on to Queen Josefina’s granddaughter, the later Queen Lovisa of Denmark, and she was thus the first Danish queen to wear a portrait of the Danish sovereign in this special frame, the crown of Brazil being replaced by the danish crown. Later, Queen Alexandrine and Queen Ingrid wore the frame during the reigns of their husbands, and, from 1972 until the succession of the throne in January 2024, Queen Margrethe wore the frame with a portrait of her father, Frederik IX.
The King wears for the first time a number of historical items which kings – and most recently Her Majesty Queen Margrethe – have worn during their reigns.
This applies first and foremost to the special elephant that His Majesty wears on a chain. The elephant was likely created in 1671 for the anointing of Christian V in Frederiksborg Castle Church, while the order’s chain was first made in 1693 in connection with the issuance of statutes (rules) for the Order of the Elephant. The distinctive mark of the elephant is five large, square, flat diamonds shaped as a cross, and the elephant is colloquially referred to as “The Mother Elephant”, as the object is the first elephant for the whole Order of the Elephant. According to tradition, this elephant is worn by the monarch for special occasions. Thus, Frederik IX and Margrethe II had a tradition of wearing the elephant each year on 1 January for the annual New Year’s banquet. At other events for which the Order of the Elephant is worn, the sovereign wears his or her own personal elephant.
In the portrait, The King also wears the Order of the Elephant’s breast star from around 1770. The breast star was made for the later Frederik VI. In 1947, The King’s grandfather, Frederik IX, began to wear this breast star again on special occasions. At the bottom of the uniform, The King wears the breast star of the Order of Dannebrog, which was made for Frederik VI after the change in the order’s rules in 1808.
Nothing about the neck badge king Frederik is wearing with a diamond M
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