ROYAL ARTS VISIONS; Kingdom of Denmark, H.M. The King's speech at the Evening Party for Arts and Culture

The Royal Family's Arrival at the Arts and Culture Evening

The Royal Couple held an arts and culture evening at Christiansborg Palace on 28 February 2025.

In the picture, HM The King and Queen arrive at the Drabantsalen. Foto: Kongehuset ©

Foto: Kongehuset ©

Christiansborg Palace will be the venue for the traditional evening of arts and culture tonight.

Their Majesties the King and Queen will host the evening, and the party will enjoy a three-course dinner and entertainment in the Hall of Honour, where the evening will continue with The Lancers and an open dance floor.

Foto: Kongehuset ©

The guests arrived at Christiansborg Palace via the Inner Palace at the Queen's Gate and continued through the Hall of Drabants to the Royal Reception Rooms.

In the Velvet Chamber, the guests were introduced to the King and Queen Margrethe before continuing into the Hall of Honour, where the evening party was held.

Foto: Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix ©

Arts and Culture Evening

The guests at the evening were actors in the world of arts and culture. The Minister of Culture and representatives from the Court also attended.

Foto: Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix ©

The Royal Life Guards Band played music during the presentation and dinner.

Foto: Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix ©

The tradition of the evening party for arts and culture began in 1976, when H.M. Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik held an evening party for guests representing arts and culture for the first time. At that time, the party was held under the name 'Arts et Lettres' (arts and words).

Foto: Kongehuset ©

The setting for the evening party is Christiansborg Palace, which has more than 800 years of history as the kingdom's center of power. Today, the palace houses several institutions of central importance. The Folketing has most of the premises in the palace, but the Prime Minister's Office, the Supreme Court and the Royal Representation Rooms are also housed here. It is in the Royal Palace's premises that evening parties, New Year's Eve parties and gala dinners are held.

Guests arrive at the evening party for arts and culture

From the Drabantsalen, the guests continued via the Royal Staircase to the Velvet Chamber, where the guests were introduced to the King and Queen and H.M. Queen Margrethe

When the Royal Couple's guests arrive at the Evening Party for Arts and Culture tonight, they will enter through the Drabantsalen – a special room marked by six monumental columns, shaped like large figures. Known as Giants or Atlantes, they carry the ceiling on their shoulders and give the room a distinctive expression.
The name of the room comes from the regent's original guard corps, where a drabant was a prince's personal guard. Today, this function is carried out by the Royal Life Guard, who will form a guard of honor in the Drabantsalen at the evening party. His Majesty the King will inspect this guard upon his arrival at the palace.
Their Majesties the King and Queen are hosting an evening party for arts and culture at Christiansborg Palace for the first time as a royal couple. The last such party took place in 2016 with Her Majesty Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik as hosts.
On a daily basis, the public has the opportunity to experience the Drabantsalen when they visit the Royal Reception Rooms at Christiansborg Palace.

H.M. The King's speech at an evening event for arts and culture

Ladies and gentlemen, dear guests,

Tonight we pay tribute to art and culture.
Tonight we pay tribute to you, who give us everything:
- from classical to culinary works of art
- from performing arts to the art of physical expression
- from musical to cinematic to architectural gems
- from tactile crafts and design to digital experiences and games
I grew up surrounded by pictures and books, sculptures and music. As a child of two performing artists, I am genetically burdened. And enriched.
From a young age, I have seen art draw both my mother and my father. Both had – and mother, you still do – something on their hearts and an urge to let ‘that something’ find expression and take shape.
As a boy, I did not understand it.
Art was a puzzle that I set out to solve.
I wanted to understand art and allied myself with experienced people who patiently led me into their world.
Work by work, I gained nuances and a taste for visual art in particular. I began to think about and surrender to art. The childhood urge to clarify had been replaced by a desire to discover.
Art and culture have always been up for discussion. When is something one thing, and when is something another – or neither one nor the other?
The current debate is whether art can come from artificial intelligence, or whether art is inextricably linked to being human with consciousness and intention.
Again, the important thing is perhaps not to clarify, but precisely to explore. Art sets something – and rarely the same thing – in motion within us.
We cannot do without art or culture and cannot avoid either. Art and culture are woven into our lives and often play a key role in life's most crucial moments.
It can be anything from an international sporting event that became the occasion for an unlikely meeting between two people. To a chorus that gave weight to the promise of weightless love.
Just to name a few examples.
An ancient Latin expression reads:
«Vita brevis, Ars longa».
Life is short, art is long.
Tonight we celebrate what unites us and moves us in the present and long after.
I propose a toast to art and culture.
Cheers!
(The spoken word counts)

Les Lanciers at evening parties
After dinner at the evening party for arts and culture on 28 February 2025, the Hall of Honour at Christiansborg Palace was transformed into a large dance floor. As is tradition, Les Lanciers was danced, in which HM the King and Queen also participated.

For more than 150 years, Les Lanciers has been danced at the Court's parties. To this day, it is still a tradition that is upheld at a number of Royal House events. The festive quadrille dance is a regular feature at birthdays and evening parties that have been held in recent years for the government, the Danish members of the Folketing and the European Parliament, as well as representatives from the world of art and culture.
Les Lanciers dates back to the 19th century and became particularly popular in Copenhagen in the 1860s. August Bournonville, who was a ballet dancer and master at the Royal Theatre at the same time, helped to popularize Les Lanciers by teaching the dance.

The dance consists of five turns, which are danced by the four couples of the quadrille. The fifth turn is called the "herremøllen" and is a Danish addition to Les Lanciers.
In the gallery below, the Royal Couple and guests are seen dancing Les Lanciers at the evening party on February 28, 2025.