Denmark officially has a new king and queen. On Sunday, Queen Margrethe abdicated by signing some papers, and Denmark?s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made the proclamation: King Frederik X and Queen Mary are the new king and queen after Margrethe?s historic 52-year reign. The ?handover? took place at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, then the proclamation happened on the balcony, where Mary and Frederik appeared before a loud and happy crowd. Mary and Fred even kissed on the balcony, like it was their wedding day! They both seemed into it.

Speaking of, Mary wore a white gown specially made/designed by her Danish wedding dressmaker, Soeren Le Schmidt. It was sewn by Birgit Hallstein. It?s very bridal, which I guess fits with the occasion ? she wanted that kind of association, and it?s basically like she?s becoming a new person, the queen of Denmark.

This whole thing ended up being bigger than they said it would be ? I thought the ?coronation? was mostly going to be a bureaucratic thing, but the Danes did some pomp. The new king made a speech, lots of people came out to wish them well, there was a cannon salute, they did a carriage ride through Copenhagen and there were crowds of thousands in the streets and outside the palace. As it turns out, the Danes are monarchists.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.