The absence of a prominent Danish royal from the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was due to her invite being revoked at the last minute by the UK government, reports have claimed.
Denmark’s royal family issued a statement last Tuesday (13 September) announcing that Prince Frederik would be joined at the historic State Funeral by his wife, Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, and his mother, Queen Margrethe II.
However, as both her husband and mother-in-law took their seats in the front row of Westminster Abbey on Monday, the Princess was nowhere to be seen.
Speaking to the Danish tabloid BT, the family claimed that the UK foreign office had issued Mary’s initial invitation by some “regrettable error”.
A statement from the Royal House read: “There has been a regrettable error in the invitation from the British Foreign Office’s protocol. It is thus only the Queen and the Crown Prince who, from the Danish side, will participate in Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on Monday.”
The Independent has approached Denmark’s Royal House for further comment.
Buckingham Palace has also been contacted.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “The FCDO has passed on their profound apologies to the Danish Royal Household through the Danish Embassy.”
It is likely that Mary, 50, was excluded from the ceremony because each royal family or dignitary invited to the service was only permitted to bring one extra guest with them.
The tabloid’s royal correspondent said he expected that the Royal House would be been “upset” by the last minute retraction, describing the mix-up as “clumsy and unfortunate”.
Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including representatives for some 20 foreign royal families, governors-general and realm prime ministers, gathered in the gothic church on Monday to mourn Britain’s late monarch.
Queen Margrethe, who was seen shedding a tear by Queen Elizabeth’s coffin ahead of the funeral, was the first foreign monrach to pay tribute to the Queen.
