On Friday, the King of Denmark hosted the first arts and culture banquet of his reign, and both Queen Mary and Queen Margrethe sparkled in tiaras and gala jewels for the occasion.
King Frederik X, Queen Mary, and Queen Margrethe of Denmark arrived at the Riddersalen at Christiansborg Palace on Friday for a special banquet highlighting Danish achievements in the fields of arts and culture.
Numerous representatives from both fields were present for the dinner, the first held during King Frederik’s reign. Here, he delivers remarks during the event.
Though the dinner was a black-tie affair, Queen Mary and Queen Margrethe delightfully chose to wear full gala jewelry with their evening gowns for the occasion. Here, the royal trio receives their guests ahead of the start of the dinner.
Queen Mary sparkled from head to toe for the event, wearing a pink sequin-encrusted gown from the British designer Jenny Packham.
If the gown looks familiar, there’s a good reason. We’ve seen the same dress twice on the Princess of Wales. Here, Princess Catherine wears the dress for the banquet following the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan in Amman in June 2023. Perhaps this was the moment when Mary decided to add the dress to her own wardrobe collection? Kate is chatting with Frederik and Mary in this photograph taken during the event.
UPDATE: Some of you eagle-eyed fashion chroniclers have reminded me that Mary’s had the pink Jenny Packham Georgia gown in her wardrobe since at least 2022, and she first wore it publicly in photographs released to celebrate her 50th birthday. A very similar green Jenny Packham design was first worn by the then-Duchess of Cambridge in 2019 during her tour of Pakistan. Princess Marie also owns that green dress and wore it recently during the President of Egypt’s state visit to Copenhagen.
The Queen of Denmark attends an arts and culture banquet at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on February 28, 2025 (Kongehuset)For the arts and culture dinner, Mary wore the same tiara and earrings that she selected for that Jordanian wedding banquet back in the spring of 2023: her Edwardian tiara and its matching earrings.
Here’s another look at the jewelry from Friday’s dinner. Mary acquired this convertible tiara, made during the Edwardian era, from a Bruun Rasmussen auction in 2012. The tiara, which can also be taken off its frame and worn as a necklace, is set with diamonds, rubies, and spinels. Included in the auction lot was a small pair of coordinating earrings, but Mary later commissioned this larger pair to match the tiara’s central design.
Queen Margrethe arrived for the banquet in full monarch-emeritus splendor, wearing a warm fur jacket over her black and blue evening dress.
With the lace and satin gown, Margrethe wore pieces of heirloom jewelry from her personal collection, including a tiara inherited from her mother and additional jewels that belonged to her paternal grandmother.
Her tiara, the Baden Palmette, comes from her German royal ancestors. The piece was given by Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany to his only daughter, Grand Duchess Louise of Baden, as a wedding present in 1856. The tiara was later inherited by Louise’s daughter, Queen Victoria of Sweden. Her granddaughter, Queen Ingrid, brought the piece to Denmark, and it’s been part of Queen Margrethe’s jewelry collection now for 25 years.
With the tiara, Margrethe wore a spectacular suite of diamond and sapphire jewelry. The earrings and necklace are set with diamond and sapphire clusters that belonged to her grandmother, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark. The gemstones were originally set in a large corsage ornament, which was dismantled to make the earrings, necklace, and pendant. The jewels were given to her by her parents, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, to celebrate her coming-of-age in 1958 and her wedding in 1967.
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