Not easy to organize an event where 2000 personalities are invited, including the greatest dignitaries from all over the world. Elizabeth II’s royal funeral went off without a hitch to the naked eye on September 19, 2022, but Buckingham Palace was not immune to missteps. After the “dis-invitations” of Meghan and Harry to the reception organized by Charles III learned from the press, another oddity surfaced, concerning a great royal personality. The British Foreign Office has apologized to the Danish Royal Family after Princess Mary was mistakenly invited to the Queen’s funeral. It could have remained a private matter if the wife of Frederik of Denmark, Crown Prince, had not been announced beforehand among the guests.
Apologies were made to the Danish Embassy due to the funeral of Elizabeth II, according to the Danish media LV relayed by the DailyMail. If Queen Margrethe II – whose husband Henrik died in 2018 – and her son Frederik were present at the state funeral of the Queen of the United Kingdom, the wife of the Crown Prince, Mary, did not attend. , when she had been announced participating in the historic event. His invitation was indeed rescinded after a “regrettable mistakein the original invitation. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office conveyed its apologies to the Royal Family via the Danish Embassy, according to a spokesperson at the DailyMail.
The Danish media had first reported the error which appears on the invitation sent to the royal family of Denmark. She suggested that in addition to the queen and her son, the crown prince could come with an additional person, his wife in this case. However, per protocol, each guest could only come with a single “+1” to Westminster Abbey. The explanation for this diplomatic error is simple, it results from the eagerness with which the innumerable invitations were launched in a very short period of time.
Imbroglio and human error
The Danish royal family had confirmed their visit on September 13 in a press release, explaining that Her Majesty of Denmark and the princely couple would be present at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. However, six days later, in another statement, it was announced that only the Queen and her son would be coming, with no mention of Princess Mary of Denmark. The original invitation had therefore caused confusion and the British made amends, admitting that things were not clear.
The time is therefore not for diplomatic war but for appeasement in these times of mourning. According to the journalist LV“the Royal House of Denmark understands that an unfortunate mistake has been made“. The expert adds that he himself thought that the princess would be invited, because of the very strong ties between Queen Elizabeth and her cousin Margrethe, now the only reigning queen of the world at the head of an independent country.
The two women are Queen Victoria’s great-great granddaughters, making them third cousins. The Danish queen has in the past referenced her British counterpart as a big sister, nicknaming her Lilibet. The latter then called her cousin from Denmark Daisy, the daisy flower – meaning Margrethe – so saying in English. During the funeral, Margrethe II of Denmark did not hide her emotion at the coffin of this distant cousin, at Westminster Hall.