On May 14, 2004, the House of Denmark hosted the wedding of his Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and the Australian Miss Mary Elisabeth Donaldson in Vor Frue Kirke in Nørregade, Copenhagen. It had been 261 years since a
royal wedding had taken place in Copenhagen. The employees at the palace were busy polishing the silver and gold, ordering a wedding tent and writing out invitations to 800 guests for the church ceremony. The father of Prince Frederik, Prince Henrik (the husband
of the Queen in Denmark is not bequeathed the title of King), gave his suggestions for the wedding dinner and the chefs’ elite agreed to help in the palace to peel the white asparagus, peel the shrimp and build the wedding cake. Meantime, the police organized
the security for the day, including the wedding ceremony and open carriage ride of the royal couple as they waved and greeted the thousands of people who lined the streets for the occasion. The weatherman did his best to promise a rain-free day. The royal
wedding marks the conclusion of something of a modern fairy tale after almost four years of courtship since the couple first met at a bar during the Sydney Olympics.
Many people were involved in the planning of the wedding. The Queen’s Master of Protocol; the coordinator to organize all the activities; the stable master to organize the horses and carriage; the Bishop to perform the ceremony; Chief of Police to organize all the security for
all the royal families, political representatives and foreign dignitaries; the palace secretary to communicate with the news media; the master of ceremonies to plan, organize and communicate all the procedures, speeches and events and finally, the royal housekeeper who organized the daily schedule and included finding appropriate accommodations for all the guests. The royal housekeeper is the one in charge of checking the 4,000 glasses, 1,600 plates, and waiters. He also looks after the guests at official functions.
As is usual, Princess Mary was able to keep the design of the wedding dress a secret until she appeared at the church. The wedding dress was white duchess; Mary wore Queen Ingrid’s veil. The train weighed 10 kg and took 300 hours to make.
The dinner and the evenings’ events took place in a tent on the Fredensborg palace grounds. It took 18 men three weeks from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to erect the tent which was 1,300 m2. The ceilings of the tent were 8 meters high and carpeted in red to match
the hanging flower and lighting, as well as table and other floral arrangements in variations of red roses. The tent was lit with 40,000 watts or enough to provide a small village with lights. The kitchen was set up in a separate tent which was 600 m2. The
garden salon hosted the coffee, cognac, cigars and the wedding cake.
450 guests were invited to the wedding dinner which started a little later than planned. The guests arrived according to the protocol: dignitaries and politicians came first, then the nobility of Europe, the fanfare of trumpets announced the arrival of Queen
Margerethe and Prince Henrik, and finally and another fanfare of trumpets greeted the arrival of the guests of honor, Crown Prince Frederic and Crown Princess Mary. Once the guests of honor seated themselves, the other guests followed suit. Prince Henrik
welcomed the wedding guests and the first course was served by 130 waiters in tails and white gloves.
The wedding cake, which was served after the traditional wedding waltz, was 2 meters high and weighed 90 kg. Seven bakeries prepared the cake over a period of one month. It was decorated with sculptures to tell the story of the royal couple. Some of the cake was
made up of almonds, covered with rhubarb and strawberries and topped with more almond cake. Some of the layers were made of chocolate and topped with chocolate mousse. All the layers were covered with a white marzipan and decorated with marzipan roses, the
couple’s official monogram in chocolate and decorated with roses and grapes.
What the Danes would call delicious but a calorie bomb.
The food was prepared from Danish and Norwegian produce but prepared in the French manner. The Prince Henrik had requested that guests be served individually from large platters.
Chef Claus Meyer has compiled the menu and recipes which we will present in this newsletter. The dinner consisted of four courses:
Timbale of Fruits of the Sea
(Timbale af havets frugter)
Well-Connected Tartlets
(Vol-Au-Vent med lykkelige forbindelser)
Herbed Braised Deer Fillet
(Krydderstegt dådyr)
White Chocolate Mousse (Cake)
(Kage af hvid chokolademouss)
The wines which accompanied the dinner were from Prince Henrik’s vineyard in Franc, which he started as a hobby but has now transformed into a good business. The wines were:
La Cigaralle du Prince Consort 2000
(A white wine)
Cahors Château de Caïx 1996 En Magnum
Champagne Mercier Cuvée Frederik & Mary
(The champagne was served in tall glasses which holds the bubbles and aroma better than low, flat glasses.)
For panoramic pictures try this website.
http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/kongehuset/wedding/
