Their Royal Highnesses, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, and the Queen's younger sister, Princess Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, hosted a gala dinner at the Christiansborg Palace for the Danish members of the European Parliament on September 23.Â
The gala dinner was part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of Queen Margrethe II. Her Majesty was unable to attend because she tested positive for COVID-19 a day after coming home from the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London.Â
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| HRH Princess Benedikte © Detdanskekongehus |
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| Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary  © Detdanskekongehus |
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| © Detdanskekongehus |
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| © Detdanskekongehus |
Les Lanciers Dance
After dinner, guests and the royal hosts moved to the Knight's Hall of the palace and performed the traditional Les Lanciers dance, which is part of the evening parties of the Danish Royal Family.
This tradition goes back to the reign of King Frederik IX, the father of Queen Margrethe II, when the king and his wife, Queen Ingrid, would invite guests for dinner and evening parties at the palace during important royal occasions. And performed Les Lanciers.Â
What is Les Lanciers dance?
Les Lanciers is a square dance (a dance for four couples or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square). It is a variant of the Quadrille, a dance fashionable in the late 18th and 19th centuries performed by four couples. It's the same dance routine we often saw in most fairytale movies!
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| Danish royals welcomed guests |
Les Lanciers'Â routine is made up of five figures or tours, each performed four times so that each couple dances the lead part. It was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries but saw a decline in the 20th century due to the introduction of modern dance.
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| Routine in Les Lanciers dance © Detdanskekongehus |
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| The Crown Prince couple in the dance floor © Detdanskekongehus |
However, in Denmark, particularly in the Danish Royal House, this dance survived until the present day and is regularly performed during evening parties hosted by the Danish royal family.
According to Science Nordic, the name Lanciers refers to soldiers on horseback who carried lances. They were found in all major European armies in the period from the late 1700s to the Second World War. The dance Lanciers may have been inspired by – or written for – those soldiers.Â
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Princess Benedikte joined guests dancing Les Lanciers © Detdanskekongehus |
The name may sound fancy and French, but it is actually more Danish. In fact, Denmark is the only country in the world to have Lanciers on the agenda at school balls and other social gatherings.Â
And Danes are actually the only people in the world to dance Lanciers several times a year. Even Danish royals never failed to participate in this exciting dance routine during evening parties at their palaces.
Crown Princess Mary and Princess Benedikte, with their sash and tiaras on, and Crown Prince Frederik, trotted around the dance floor, gamely joining other guests performing this jolly dance routine.Â
Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace is home to the three supreme powers in Denmark, the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power. It is the only building in the world that houses all three of a country's branches of government. It is also used by the Danish monarch during a state banquet. Â
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| Inside Christiansborg Palace |
The name Christiansborg is also frequently used as a metonym for the Danish political system, and colloquially it is often referred to as Rigsborgen or the castle of the realm or simply Borgen "the castle".
The Glamour of the Night
Crown Princess Mary glittered in diamonds during the gala dinner. She wore a fancy hot pink one-shoulder gown from David Andersen, a pair of pink satin pumps from Gianvito Rossi, and diamond earrings.Â
She completed her glamorous look by wearing her wedding Diamond Tiara, a wedding gift from Queen Margrethe II. While Princess Benedikte wore her Diamond Floral Tiara.
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