MARGRETHE II

Margrethe Alexandrine Thorhildur Ingrid, otherwise known to the outside world as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, turns 70 today. Congratulations!

Born exactly a week after the Germans invaded and occupied Denmark in the Second World War, she is the oldest of King Frederik IX's three daughters. Having no sons, the constitution had to be changed in 1953 in order to allow a woman to succeed (it has recently been changed again, so that the eldest child, male or female, succeeds, as in Sweden; but since her eldest child, and his own eldest child, are both boys, this won't have any practical effect for many years). Queen Margrethe has been on the throne since January 1972, just over 38 years.

In the anachronistic institution of monarchy, longevity undoubtedly helps (witness Thailand or the U.K.). Just by sticking around gives people the feelings of security and continuity. It also helps in her case, in meritocratic Denmark, that she is talented. Married to a French prince, she speaks fluent French and English, and good German. She is also a gifted artist, having had public exhibitions of her paintings and having designed stage sets for the Theatre Royal. She recently made the collage backgrounds for the Hans Christian Andersen film The Wild Swans, which were deemed a great success.

At a gala performance in her honour last night, she was rightly called a world citizen in Denmark. She is an excellent ambassador for the country, as her hosting on the fringes of international summits such as the EU expansion into Eastern Europe and the Copenhagen meeting on climate change demonstrate. Despite calls in some quarters for her to step down in favour of her son, now in his early 40's, I see her carrying on for some while yet.

My only - mild - criticism of her was her decision to name the elder of her two sons Frederik. Danish kings have been alternately named Christian and Frederik since the single Hans died in 1513; and when he takes over, we will be up to the tenth of each. Although full of tradition, it makes it very difficult for outsiders to remember who was king when. Denmark has one of the oldest continuous monarchies, dating back at least to Gorm the Old, who died in 958. There are plenty of other royal names to choose from, including Svend, Erik, Valdemar, Knud and Christoffer. But this tradition seems likely to run and run; when Crown Prince Frederik had his first child, a boy, in 2005, he named him (yes, you guessed it) Christian.

Walter Blotscher