{"id":265622,"date":"2026-01-03T19:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/265622\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T19:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:01:12","slug":"from-a-notable-absence-to-a-very-danish-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/265622\/","title":{"rendered":"From a notable absence to a very Danish menu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"eIAWuz7xoZl\" data-wc=\"82\"><strong>Frederik<\/strong> and <strong>Mary of Denmark<\/strong> were the hosts of the first major royal gala of 2026. Traditionally, <a class=\"hm-link ho-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hola.com\/us\/tags\/danish-royals\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">Danish monarchs<\/a> offer a New Year\u2019s dinner at Amalienborg every January 1st, welcoming the President of the Folketing (Parliament), representatives of the country\u2019s official life, and members of the Court. The elegant evening was marked by a few factors, including the absence of a princess, the return of <a class=\"hm-link ho-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hola.com\/us\/royals\/20250926858178\/prince-joachim-princess-marie-denmark-extend-family-stay-united-states\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">Prince Joachim and his wife, Princess Marie<\/a>, and a Danish menu centered on cauliflower and Greenlandic crab.<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/82b09c580f60-dmnewyear26dppa26010171.jpg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"799\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Inside Frederik and Mary of Denmark\u2019s grand New Year Gala: From a notable absence to a very Danish menu\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image ho-image\"\/>\u00a9 DPPA\/Sipa USAFrederik and Mary of Denmark hosted a grand New Year Gala<\/p>\n<p id=\"e1Yw7J9rv8\" data-wc=\"54\">The Royal Family was represented by various key figures, including the <a class=\"hm-link ho-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hola.com\/us\/royals\/king-frederik\/20251223874538\/danish-royal-family-2025-christmas\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">King and Queen<\/a>, and the Crown <strong>Prince Christian.<\/strong> <strong>Queen Margrethe, <\/strong>her sister <strong>Princess Benedikte<\/strong>, and <strong>Prince Joachim<\/strong> and his wife Marie were also in attendance. The latter couple returned to the palace after spending Christmas in Washington, where they have lived since 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"etWzdCrSuB\" data-wc=\"42\">The most significant absence of the evening was that of <strong>Princess Isabella.\u00a0<\/strong>Although she is 18 and eligible to attend the gala, local media reports claim that she has not yet decided if she&#8217;ll become an active member of the Danish monarchy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7c2f5d238c18-gettyimages-2209873560-1.jpg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Queen Mary and daughter Princess Isabella\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image ho-image\"\/>\u00a9 Ritzau Scanpix\/AFP via Getty ImaPrincess Isabella&#8217;s role in the Danish monarchy remains unknown<\/p>\n<p id=\"ehMBXXe-p5a\" data-wc=\"32\"><strong>Christian VII<\/strong>\u2019s Palace at Amalienborg was decorated with spectacular floral arrangements, with decorators opting for warm, golden tones, preferring to combine shades of orange and ochre with subtle touches of bright yellow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"ek_o4taXtu\" data-wc=\"42\"><a class=\"hm-link ho-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hola.com\/us\/royals\/20250822851697\/queen-mary-chic-embroidered-suit-copenhagen-exhibition\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">Queen Mary<\/a> was involved in the process of selecting the flowers, which this year included roses, two varieties of orchids, and reddish eucalyptus. The arrangements were displayed on the Frederik VI dessert service, designed in the 1830s at the Royal Porcelain Factory.<\/p>\n<p>A royal dinner highlighting its local culture<br \/>\n <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4f51e19c7b57-3ceb85fade08-60922333918441327982101515886411825014002470n.jpg\"   width=\"903\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The gala featured stunning decorations\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image ho-image\"\/>\u00a9 @detdanskekongehusThe gala featured stunning decorations<\/p>\n<p id=\"e45FlTgp59\" data-wc=\"48\"><a class=\"hm-link ho-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hola.com\/us\/food\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">The gala&#8217;s dinner menu<\/a> highlighted its local Danish culture. The menu consisted of appetizers and main courses, including a creamy cauliflower soup with Parisian herbs and Jutland truffles, Greenland snow crab with tomato chutney on lettuce and sprouts from the gardens of Fredensborg Palace, accompanied by mussel cream.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"eSuCVYe9ne\" data-wc=\"45\">The main course was made up of wild duck breast and confit legs with beetroot, scorzonera roots, roasted leek, a mild mustard sauce, and horseradish. The evening concluded with dessert, made up of walnut cake with pickled lemons, skyr cheese, and mandarin Grand Marnier sauce.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"ed7j_Yp_Ae\" data-wc=\"35\">Wines from the Royal Family\u2019s Ch\u00e2teau de Cayx in France were served, along with semi-dry Piper-Heidsieck champagne. Music was provided by the Royal Life Guards band, with works by Strauss, Bizet, Walter, Viraud, and Seebach.<\/p>\n<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c49889c9c0b9-dfac1da62591-609556654184413280091015155336018371756692847n.jpg\"   width=\"900\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mary had a hand in selecting the flowers that decorated the gala\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image ho-image\"\/>\u00a9 @detdanskekongehusMary had a hand in selecting the flowers that decorated the gala<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frederik and Mary of Denmark were the hosts of the first major royal gala of 2026. Traditionally, Danish&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[24204,18,117,19,17,135966,135967,8505],"class_list":{"0":"post-265622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-danish-royals","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-king-frederik","14":"tag-queen-mary","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115832716430739236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}