The celebrations of the new year in Denmark continued this week with more traditional receptions, and Queen Mary brought out more special heirloom jewels for each event.
Following the grand New Year’s Levee for government officials and the royal court at Amalienborg on New Year’s Day, King Frederik X and Queen Mary held several more receptions to celebrate the new year with additional groups of prominent Danes. On Monday, they hosted a reception for Supreme Court judges, the Royal Life Guards and the Guard Hussar Regiment’s Officer Corps at Christian VII’s Palace in the Amalienborg complex, followed by a reception for mayors and regional council chairs at Christian VIII’s Palace.
Later, they traveled to Christiansborg Palace, where they hosted a third reception, this time for members of the diplomatic corps.
For Monday’s receptions, Queen Mary wore an elegant ensemble made of midnight blue velvet. UFO No More shares that the jacket and dress were made by Jesper Høvring.
With the ensemble, Mary wore the sash and star of the Order of the Elephant, the badge of the Order of the Dannebrog, and King Frederik’s Royal Portrait Order, as well as the earrings from a special suite of historic Danish royal jewelry.
The diamond and pearl earrings are part of the Pearl Poiré Parure, a married suite of nineteenth-century jewels set with diamonds and pear-shaped pearls. The earrings were originally pendants on the necklace from the set, which was given to Queen Lovisa of Denmark as a wedding present by the Khedive of Egypt in 1869.
The entire suite of jewelry is part of the Danish Royal Property Trust. Queen Lovisa placed them in the trust in her will to ensure that they would remain with the main line of the family. The jewels in the trust are generally worn solely by the Queen of Denmark, and Mary began wearing them after King Frederik’s accession in 2024.
When Mary removed her gloves, we also got a glimpse of one more jewelry accessory: a large pearl ring, worn on her right hand.
On Tuesday, the party continued with the final New Year reception. At Christiansborg Palace, the King and Queen hosted an event for military officers and the Emergency Management Agency, representatives of the public sector of Denmark, selected groups with noble and honorary titles, and invited representatives of organizations, associations, and foundations, including the Royal Couple’s patronages. The King’s brother, Prince Joachim, was one of the guests, in his role as Brigadier-General of the Danish Embassy in the United States.
For Tuesday’s reception, Queen Mary reached into her wardrobe archive for a golden gown from Teri Jon by Rickie Freeman. She wore the same decorations—Elephant insignia, Dannebrog badge, and the King’s Royal Portrait Order—as she did with the previous day’s ensemble.
But for jewelry accessories, she turned to a different collection of pieces from the Danish Royal Property Trust, all of which are also associated with the Swedish-born Queen Lovisa of Denmark.
Queen Lovisa inherited the spectacular eighteenth-century diamond earrings from her great-great-great-grandmother, Princess Anne of Orange. Anne, who was born in Hanover in 1709, was a daughter of King George II of Great Britain and held the title of Princess Royal.
On the neck of her gown, Mary pinned a diamond brooch with a scroll design. The jewel is usually set as a clasp on a gold bracelet. It was an engagement gift from King Carl XV of Sweden to his future wife, Princess Louise of the Netherlands, in 1850. Queen Lovisa of Denmark was their only surviving child, and she inherited the bracelet from her mother.
Mary also wore another special bracelet from the trust. This gold bracelet, which is set with diamonds and pearls, was Queen Lovisa’s engagement present from her future husband, King Frederik VIII, in June 1868. Frederik and Lovisa are the great-great-grandparents of the present King of Denmark.
Here’s another look at Mary wearing the jewels at Christiansborg Palace on Tuesday. We saw Mary wear the same dress with many of the same jewelry pieces last year for one of the New Year’s receptions. Which appearance do you think was styled best?
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