Lycée Français Prins Henrik welcomes HM Queen Margrethe

The most beautiful moment and hommage !

35 years ago - in 1989 - I was standing among 350 excited children cheering for HRH Prince Henrik who visited the school that would be named in his honour.

Today - on Fév 7, 2024 - more than twice as many children, 750, were now cheering for his widow, HRM Queen Margrethe II who honoured us deeply with her presence for the official inauguration of the new school building and to pay hommage to her late husband. As for many of the other former students of the Lycee Francais Prins Henrik, it is now our own children that are the happy pupils.

Flags from across the 45 Nations that make up the community of children were waving with exitement throughout the entire school, in the courtyard and from the many rooftop terraces.

Before entering the school itself, HRM Queen Margrethe II passed by the large statues of the "King" and "Queen" respectively - enlarged replicas of a full set of chess pieces that HRH Prins Henrik had designed himself for his son's (now King Frederik 10) twentieth birthday back in 1988.

Once inside the school building in the large auditorium, HRM revealed a buste by HRH, created by Faroese artist Hans Pauli Olsen.

It was truly touching and heart-warming to witness this moment of love as a choir of the school's CM2 class (10-11 yo) sang a beautiful a cappella version of "For me, formidable" by Franco-Armenian Charles Aznavour, followed by a joyous Danish Canon.

As if the lyrics of the songs had been written for this particular occasion... !

Surrounded by white Daisies (Marguerites), HRH's favoured Blue Iris and the Prins Henrik rose that was named after the passing of HRH who was an avid gardener - all flowers combined into a beautiful bleu-blanc-rouge - the symbolism was complete.

A saluting brave (!) to choir leaders Christine Bonneau and Karen Tang Andersen, French and Danish teachers of Lycée Français Prins Henrik - Copenhague respectively for this magical moment of joy !

During her visit in the new school's modern buildings, HRM was presented to the bright and energy efficient design by architects Nils Holscher and Lars Leo Overbeck with a fine view of the playground areas on several of the rooftop terraces where children were now playing for recess.

On her tour HRM also visited Silvia Mendes' class of 6eme (11-12 yo) where i.a. "Éblouissements d'enfants" - one of many poems written by HRH Prins Henrik - was recited by the students.

Finalizing the tour HRM also paid a visit to the new Institut français Danmark which is located in the same building as the school. Head of Institute Carl Engelsen presented the French cultural and language programs that the institute offers to students and public audiences of all ages.

My warmest and deepest respect to the Chairman of the School's Foundation Anders Torbøl, H.E. French Ambassadeur to Denmark Christophe Parisot and wonderful staff at the French Embassy for co-hosting this magnificent event with us at the school - your friendship and dedication helps us promote "La France dans le monde".

Among the guests of the day was a considerable representation of ambassadors from the 45 nations that make up the community of the school's pupils, stressing the importance and acknowledgement of the French Language as a catalyst and connector for the globalised world.

Many of the school's pupils come from traveling expat families and the Lycée Francais Prins Henrik offers those families a continued and seamless education throughout the world based on a standardised and rich educational system with high academic standards. In this respect the learning of the French language is just to be considered an additional bonus.

One of the many distinguished speakers of the day was the General Director of AEFE - Agence pour l'enseignement français à l'étranger Claudia Scherer-Effosse who is leading the network of close to 600 similar international schools world-wide (in practically most countries on this planet) that are all based on the same academic teaching system with French language as the backbone of it all.

Further, The Danish Minister of Education, Mathias Tesfaye, honoured us with his presense as well as a considerable number of current and former City council members and officials and members of parlament from both Denmark and France.

The speaker list included the Honorable Michael Vindfeldt, Mayor of the City of Frederiksberg which is the de facto historic seat of the French schools of Denmark. For more than a century, French schools have been deeply rooted in Frederiksberg and thus with the inauguration of the new school premises the hope is to remain in Frederiksberg for centuries to come.

A hearfelt thank you to all the sponsors from the APM Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TotalEnergies , Fondation L'Oréal, Fritz Schur, Moët Hennessy who have all helped with support to build the new school and to all who honoured us with their presense on this historical day ; Mads Lebech, Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, Benjamin Duval, Alexis Philippon, May Leth Espensen, Fritz Schur.

As the Chairman of the Board of Lycée Francais Prins Henrik it has been truly a great honour to host the event as the representative for all parents of the school. For our children it has been an event that will be remembered for a lifetime.

On a very personal note, it has been a wonderful day that stirred up fantastic emotions and brought up many good moments from the past going all the way back to childhood memories. By sheer coincidence, it thus happened that I should be allowed to serve in Her Majesty's Service one final time.