Queen Silvia, Princess Madeleine, Princess Leonore and Christopher O'Neill meet Pope Francis.

Queen Silvia, Princess Madeleine, Princess Leonore and Christopher O'Neill are on an official visit to the Vatican and today, April 27th, they had an audience with Pope Francis.
(click on first photo for gallery view)

Photos via expressen, hola! and zenfs.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary's official visit to Japan.

From Thursday, March 26 to Saturday, March 28th, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary made an official visit to Japan to promote Greenland.

Photo: AOP

On their first day, the couple began their visit attending a seminar and speaking to children who have experienced bullying at the Kyu Asakura House in Tokyo. Crown Princess Mary has worked for many years against bullying with the Mary Foundation, creating programs like Fri For Mobberi.
Unfortunately, bullying, or Ijime as it’s called in Japanese, is a big problem in Japan — Princess Aiko, the daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, has experienced it first hand.

Photo: AOP

afterwards, the Couple attended a seminar on Greenland's fishing industry at the Hillside Plaza. Greenland is very keen on expanding their fishing exports to Japan. At the event, the guests were presented with pictures from the gorgeous Greenland nature and got to taste some of the country’s delicacies such as prawns and crab.

Photo: Jesper Sunesen / Billed Bladet

 On the evening, the Couple were part of a demonstration of local music.

Photo: Morio Taga, POLFOTO

On Friday, March 27, the couple were on a boat trip around Tokyo Bay. During the sail, the Crown Prince Couple was presented with the preparations for the Olympic Games in 2020 and the places where the sporting events will take place. The couple sailed with Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe and president of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games in Tokyo Yoshiro Mori.

Photo: Toru Hanai, Scanpix

 

After the boat trip, the couple had breakfast with representatives of the Maersk groupe and met with Princess Takamado and Princess Tsuguko at the inauguration of an exhibition about Greenland.

Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi, Scanpix

On the last day of visit, the Royal Couple visited on Saturday, March 28 the fashion and design school Mode Gakuen, which collaborated with Great Greenland and Kopenhagen Fur to introduce sealskin to new Japanese designers. During the visit, the couple was welcomed by students working with sealskin.

Photo: Jesper Sunesen, Billed-Bladet

The Royal Couple also attended a Great Greenland fashion show in department store Tokyu Honten, where a collection designed by Danish designer Jesper Høvring was showcased.

Photo: Jesper Sunesen, Billed-Bladet

The couple also visited zebra crossing Shibuya Crossing at Shibuya station. The station is the world's second largest in terms of passengers. Thousands of people pass daily Shibuya Crossing, and the surrounding area is home to Japanese youth and popular culture.

Photo: Toru Hanai, Scanpix

 The Crown Prince and Crown Princess paid a visit to Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan at the Imperial Palace.

Photo: Jesper Sunesen, Billed-Bladet

And finally, they also met with His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito.

• More Photos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
• Videos 1, 2, 3

Crown Princess Mary's dresses on exhibition.

Crown Princess Mary gave permission for 10 of her dresses to be exhibited on the "Danish Fashion Now" exhibition at Brandts Institute in Odense. The exhibition, that opened on Friday, March 27th, features some of the greatest Danish fashion designers and their work. The exhibition will be open until September 13th, 2015.

© of dress photo: Alex Tran/Billed Bladet

© of dress photo: Alex Tran/Billed Bladet

© of dress photo: Alex Tran/Billed Bladet

© of dress photo: Alex Tran/Billed Bladet

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Crown Princess Mary presents award to Princess Mabel.

Photo: AOP

Warm hugs and triumphant laughs were shared when Crown Princess Mary proudly received her good friend Princess Mabel, the widow of Prince Friso, on stage at the Champions for Change event at the enchantingly stunning Banqueting Hall in London on Thursday.
As patron of the event, Crown Princess Mary shared the key role with the evening’s award winners one of them being Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau. All the winners were awarded with the Champions for Change Award for their work promoting women’s and girls’ rights. Princess Mabel was commended for her efforts in seeking to end child marriages.

Photo: AOP

Crown Princess Mary and Princess Mabel are both passionate advocates of equality between the sexes, and as Mabel arrived on stage she was greeted with approving smiles from her Danish colleague with whom she shared warm hugs and kisses on the cheek.
Wearing a powder pink, pleated dress with a brooch-like detail at the neck, Crown Princess Mary delivered the event’s keynote speech in which she spoke about her recent working visit to Ethiopia and the harsh encounter with circumcised girls from the Afar region.

Her speech was well received by the predominantly English audience in the Banqueting Hall, after which Mary was hailed by the next speaker on stage.
Text via Royalista.

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Prince Frederik open a new power connection.

Photo: Scanpix

From opposite sides of the Skagerrak strait, Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik switched on a new power connection between their two countries.
At the exact same time as Frederik turned a handle in Denmark, Haakon turned a matching handle in Norway to let electricity flow freely between the two regions.
During the handle turning, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Prince Haakon were able to speak to each other via a live TV-transmission.


The new cable, which runs from Kristianssand in Norway to Viborg in Denmark, is 240 kilometres in length and is the fourth of its kind running underwater across Skagerrak. The price of this new connection is 2.6 billion Danish kroner.

Photo: Scanpix

Photo: Scanpix

Creating this new power connection between Denmark and Norway means that selling and buying electricity among the two countries has now become easier.

Text via Royalista.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit celebrates Kindergarten Day.

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit celebrated Kindergarten Day today, along with children from Stein Røysa kindergarten.
Stein Røysa kindergarten had made the trip from Noida to Goat Myra fare center for children, located in Sagene in Oslo. Along with Geitmyras Andreas Viestad, they made a delicious chicken soup with vegetables and the Crown Princess was able to taste it.

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

2015 is the year of Outdoor Recreation, and therefore the work of the kindergarten with nature and outdoor activities stand in the commemoration of Kindergarten Day 2015. Children from Stein Røysa nursery made a poster that they gave to Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Here they had set up their best travel tips.

Kindergarten Day was established in 2005 and celebrated in March in kindergartens across the country. This opens the doors to the outside world in order to highlight the kindergarten content and quality.

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix