Queen Mary and King Frederik of Denmark showed off their moves on Friday night at Christiansborg Palace. The royal couple attended an evening party for arts and culture during which Les Lanciers was danced. The Danish Royal House shared a video of the King and Queen participating in the dance.
According to the Royal House, Les Lanciers is a "tradition that is upheld at a number of Royal House events," including birthdays and evening parties. The dance is said to date "back to the 19th century and became particularly popular in Copenhagen in the 1860s," and consists of five turns. The fifth turn is called the “herremøllen” and it is a Danish addition to Les Lanciers, per the Royal House.
Queen Mary sparkled on the dance floor wearing her pink sequin Jenny Packham gown—the same stunning number that the Princess of Wales wore to Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan's royal wedding banquet, and to the Diplomatic Reception in 2023.
Mary completed her dazzling look on Feb. 28 with a tiara and her hair styled down. Frederik's mother, Queen Margrethe, was among the guests at the party celebrating art and culture. The King's 84-year-old mother has been "actively involved in a number of artistic forms of expression since 1970, including painting, church textiles, watercolors, graphics, book illustrations, decoupage, scenography and embroidery."
At the event on Friday evening, His Majesty recalled growing up surrounded by pictures, books, sculptures and music. "As the child of two performing artists, I am genetically burdened. And enriched. From a young age, I have seen art draw both my mother and my father. Both had – and mother, you still do – something on their hearts and an urge to let 'that something' find expression and take shape," Frederik said in a speech at the party (translated to English). "As a boy, I didn't understand it. Art was a puzzle that I set out to solve. I wanted to understand art and allied myself with experienced people who patiently led me into their world. Work by work I gained nuances and a taste for visual art in particular. I began to think about and surrender to art. The childhood urge to clarify had been replaced by a desire to discover."
"Art and culture have always been a subject of discussion. When is something one thing and when is something the other – or neither one nor the other? The current debate is whether art can come from artificial intelligence, or whether art is inextricably linked to being human with consciousness and intention. Again, the important thing is perhaps not to clarify, but precisely to explore. Art sets something – and rarely the same thing – in motion within us. We cannot do without art or culture and cannot avoid either," the King continued. "Art and culture are woven into our lives and often play a key role in life's most crucial moments. It could be anything from an international sporting event that led to an unlikely meeting between two people, to a chorus that gave weight to the promise of weightless love, just to name a few examples. An ancient Latin expression reads: «Vita brevis, Ars longa». Life is short, art is long. Tonight we celebrate what unites us and moves us in the present and long after. I propose a toast to art and culture. Cheers!"