State visits and official visits

 

State visits: A state visit is the highest form of relation between two sovereign states. The overall aim of a state visit is to establish, strengthen and promote link between the countries, including social, commercial and cultural ties. A Danish state visit abroad is called an outward state visit. In 2017, HM The Queen made a state visit in the African nation of Ghana (23-25 November). A state visit in Denmark is called an inbound state visit. In 2017, Denmark had two inbound state visits: from Iceland (24-26 January) and from Belgium (28-30 March).

 

State visits abroad:

    • In relation to Danish state visits abroad, I tender my services as a historical consultant to public institutions, private businesses and non-governmental organizations in Denmark.

 

When HM The Queen makes a state visit or receives heads of state in Denmark, they pass off after an assessment in “The Committee concerning the Travels and Visits of the Royal House”. Here, representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are attending. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the protocol) is in charge of the practical preparation and implementation of state visits abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs works out background material in connection with state visits.
In a Danish state visit abroad, as a principal rule, there is accompaniment of larger Danish cultural and commercial delegations. The cultural programme in connection with a state visit is mapped out in collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. The Agency for Culture and Palaces is responsible for planning and implementing the cultural programme. In the aggregate, the three public institutions are represented in the cross-ministerial liaison forum The International Cultural Panel.
Members of the Royal House are at the head of Danish commercial delegations in connection with state visits. Commercial delegations from Denmark have nowadays on average participation of 50-60 Danish companies. The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), a non-governmental, business and employers’ organization, is in a position to propose Danish companies as possible visiting objects in the country, which HM The Queen is visiting. The commercial side to a Danish state visit abroad is also managed by the main Danish business organizations and The Trade Council, which is an integrated part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The travels and visits abroad of the Royal Family are unique opportunities to improve the knowledge of Denmark, including Danish values, organization of society, culture and capacity and competences of the economic life. A state visit abroad is often combined with Danish cultural campaigns and commercial campaigns, which by royal attendance to a great extent are seeking an export of Danish articles, culture and ideas. My historical consultant services are designed to encourage this Danish export. An example on this is could be a historical account of the historical and cultural ties, which exist between two countries. An element could be an account of the dynastic connections, which the Danish Royal House has made with other European monarchies. Some of these monarchies do not exist anymore as sovereign states, but form parts of larger states, e.g. England and Scotland, which dissolve in 1707 in order to constitute part of the British union, the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and German states, from which Danish kings traditionally have collected many of their queen consorts. In other of the European states, which dynastically have had connections with the Danish Royal House, the monarchy has been abolished as form of government, e.g. France, Portugal and Russia. The dynastic connections involved most often also an exchange of culture with the female members of the European royal and princely houses as cultural mediators.

State visits in Denmark:

    • In connection with foreign state visits in Denmark, I assist as a historical consultant to the cultural/social institutions, organizations, businesses etc., which receives visits as a part of the programme for the state visit.

 

Here, the important thing as host country is to present oneself as best as possible facing the assembled official delegation of the visiting country. At state visits in Denmark the visiting country will seek to export its articles, cultural values and ideas. From the Danish side, one can therefore as a visiting place avail oneself of the opportunity to emphasize the close bonds between Denmark and the visiting state as well.

 

  • My consultant services include both outward and inbound state visits in and from respectively both republics and monarchies. In 2018, the world consists of 195 sovereign states, of which 44 are monarchies, which corresponds to barely every fourth state globally.

 

Official visits: Official visits are visits on a level under state visits. In a Danish context, members of the Royal House and heads of government are making official visits abroad. In 2017, the Danish Royal House made official visits in Sweden, where the Crown Prince Couple was at the head of a Danish commercial campaign within among other things ecology, design, health and care (29-30 May), in Japan (8-12 October), where the Crown Prince Couple’s official visit marked the 150th Anniversary of the Danish-Japanese diplomatic connections, and HRH The Crown Prince’s visit in China (23-26 September). At the visit in Japan, the Crown Prince Couple was attended by four ministers, 55 Danish businesses and several of the main business organizations, including The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), which by the Danish commercial campaign sought to strengthen Denmark’s position in Japan within sale of foods, design and health products.

A special part of the domestic official visits of the Danish Royal House, which include visits in Danish towns on the annual summer cruises onboard the Royal Yacht Dannebrog, is the traditional visits on the Faroe Islands and in Greenland, which together with Denmark constitute the Danish Realm. In August 2018 the Crown Prince Couple will make an official visit on the Faroe Islands. The visit will become the Crown Prince Couple’s second official visit in the North Atlantic island realm.

Members of royal and princely houses in other states, who are not monarchical heads of state, are also making official visits to Denmark. In 2017, Denmark had an official visit from the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito (15-20 June) and the British Prince Henry (25-26 October).

Official visits include also the Danish Prime Minister’s visits to heads of government or heads of state abroad, as the Danish Prime Minister receives heads of state or heads of government on official visits in Denmark.

 

  • There is only offered historical consultant services in connection with official visits, which members of the Danish Royal House make abroad (inclusive of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), in both monarchies and republics, and which members of the world’s other royal and princely houses make in Denmark.

 

  • To both state visits and official visits my historical consultant services are intended to underline the relations between two given countries, historically and culturally.