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Constitutional role[edit]

The Queen's main tasks are to represent the Kingdom abroad and to be a unifying
figurehead at home. She receives foreign ambassadors and awards honours and medals.
The Queen performs the latter task by accepting invitations to open exhibitions, attending
anniversaries, inaugurating bridges, etc.
As an unelected public official, the Queen takes no part in party politics and does not
express any political opinions. Although she has the right to vote, she opts not to do so to
avoid even the appearance of partisanship.[2]
After an election where the incumbent Prime Minister does not have a majority behind him
or her, the Queen holds a Dronningerunde (Queen's meeting) in which she meets the
chairmen of each of the Danish political parties.[8]
Each party has the choice of selecting a Royal Investigator to lead these negotiations or
alternatively, give the incumbent Prime Minister the mandate to continue his government
as is. In theory each party could choose its own leader as Royal Investigator, the social
liberal Det Radikale Venstre did so in 2006, but often only one Royal Investigator is chosen
plus the Prime Minister, before each election. The leader who, at that meeting succeeds in
securing a majority of the seats in the Folketing, is by royal decree charged with the task
of forming a new government. (It has never happened in more modern history that any
party has held a majority on its own.)
Once the government has been formed, it is formally appointed by the Queen. Officially, it
is the Queen who is the head of government, and she therefore presides over the Council
of State, where the acts of legislation which have been passed by the parliament are
signed into law. In practice, however, nearly all of the Queen's formal powers are exercised
by the Council of State, and she is required by convention to act on its advice.
In addition to her roles in her own country, the Queen is also the Colonel-in-Chief of
the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires), an infantry
regiment of theBritish Army, following a tradition in her family.[2]

Ruby Jubilee[edit]
Queen Margrethe II celebrated her Ruby Jubilee, the 40th year on the throne, 14 January
2012.[9] This was marked by a carriage procession, a gala banquet at Christiansborg
Palace and numerous TV interviews.

Personal life and interests[edit]


The official residences of the Queen and the Prince Consort are Amalienborg Palace in
Copenhagen and Fredensborg Palace. Their summer residence is Grsten
Palace near Snderborg, the former home of the Queen's mother, Queen Ingrid, who died
in 2000.
Margrethe is an accomplished painter, and has held many art shows over the years. Her
illustrationsunder the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmerwere used for the Danish edition
of The Lord of the Rings, which she was encouraged to illustrate in the early 1970s. She
sent them to J. R. R. Tolkien who was struck by the similarity of her drawings to his own
style. Margrethe's drawings were redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser in the translation
published in 1977 and re-issued in 2002. In 2000, she illustrated Henrik, the Prince

Consort's poetry collectionCantabile. She is also an accomplished translator and is said to


have participated in the Danish translation of The Lord of the Rings.[6] Another skill she
possesses is costume designing, having designed the costumes for the Royal Danish
Ballet's production of A Folk Tale and for the 2009 Peter Flinth film, De vilde svaner (The
Wild Swans).[2][10] She also designs her own clothes and is known for her colourful and
sometimes eccentric clothing choices. Margrethe also wears designs by former Pierre
Balmain designer Erik Mortensen, Jrgen Bender, and Birgitte Taulow.[11] She was listed as
one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian in March 2013.[12]
Margrethe is a chain smoker, and she is famous for her tobacco habit.[13] However, on 23
November 2006 the Danish newspaper B.T. reported an announcement from the Royal
Court stating that in future the Queen would smoke only in private.[14]

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