The "Ordensportrættet" (Portrait Order) is the Denmark Version of a Royal Family Order. The Portrait Order is a tradition of the Denmark Monarch since the 18th century. As the Order of the Elephant and other honors used to be restricted to men only, the Ordensportrættet offered women their own honor.
The Portrait Order is a portrait of the monarch, set in a gold frame surrounded by diamonds. The bow is the Order of Dannebrog ribbon (White with red border), representing the national colours of Denmark. The frames are reused for future Portrait Orders, with the picture replaced.
There can be multiple images of the monarch used for their Portrait Order. New recipients usual receive a Order with a recent image.
Instead of wearing multiple monarch's orders, a Royal will wear the order of the monarch they are the closet relation to. (E.g. Princess Benedikte always wore her father's order, not her sister's; Queen Mary of Denmark wore her mother-in-law (Queen Margrethe II)'s order during her reign, but switched to her husband (King Frederik X)'s order during his reign).
King Frederik IX (1947-1972)
- Queen Ingrid
- Princess Margrethe (later Queen Margrethe)
- Princess Bendikte
- Princess Anne-Marie (later Queen Anne-Marie of Greece)
Queen Margrethe II (1972-2024)
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| Worn by Princess Marie Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
- Princess Alexandra
- Princess Mary (Later Queen Mary)*
- Princess Marie
King Frederik X (2024-Present)
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| Royal | Relation | Year Received | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen Mary | Wife | 2024 | |
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| - | |||
| - | - | - | - |
I noticed Queen Mary “retired” Queen Margrethe’s Royal Order Portrait unlike the British Royals who layer them. Is that an accurate difference?
ReplyDeleteIn Denmark, you only wear one Order Portrait at a time. You wear the order of your closest relation. So, Queen Mary switch to Frederik's order, but other royals might continue to use Queen Margrethe II or the previous King Frederik IX.
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