Two years ago Trine Villemann, former court correspondent of the trashy Danish tabloid Ekstra-Bladet, published a gossipy book about the Danish royals, 1015 København K – Et kærligt og kritisk portræt af kongehuset, which was also translated into English under the title 1015 Copenhagen K: Mary’s Dysfunctional In-Laws. Last month she followed it up with another book, called Kongen og dronningen af Grønland, which is published by Andartes Press.In this book Trine Villemann does little but rage and vents her anger at Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary in particular, but also Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik, Countess Alexandra, politicians, public servants, Amalienborg’s press secretary and everyone else who have refused to answer her questions or co-operate on this book and Politikens Forlag for (understandably, I would say) refusing to publish the garbage.
The author’s main point is that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess have “done their utmost to tear down” the monarchy, that they are morally corrupted, that the royals are lazy and waste the Danish tax-payers’ money on a life in luxury and that various people should be punished for refusing to co-operate on her book. 166 pages of this get quite tiresome.
The only issue on which the author raises some points of value is Crown Prince Frederik’s candidature to the IOC. She sometimes attempts to make some constructive points, such as identifying what Frederik and Mary could learn from Prince Charles and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, but most of this is lost amidst ridiculous suggestions such as that the Queen, Prime Minister and Lord Chamberlain every tenth year should appoint an heir among those in line of succession and that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess should be sent to Greenland to be king and queen there while they wait for Queen Margrethe to die.
Her way of reasoning is also so extreme that she completely undermines her own credibility. Such as when she quotes a letter from a woman called Tove Skov who wrote to her in defence of the Crown Prince following Villemann’s previous book. When the author somewhat later in the book mentions the absence of Crown Prince Frederik and his family from Queen Margrethe’s 68th birthday celebrations, she writes that Tove Skov “got the fuck-finger from the man she thinks will one day be a great king”. Enough said.
Well, this seems certainly like a book not to buy! I can only commend Politikens Forlag for not publishing it - if the quote in the last paragraph is an example of the writing style, it must be most tedious
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention that the publisher who pulled my book deal with Politikens Forlag has just been awarded the Danish Ridderkors for services rendered.
ReplyDeleteEnough said!
Thank you, Trine Villemann, for providing another good example of the way you reason.
ReplyDeleteTrine makes valid points in her book. Frederik and Mary are narcissistic and only care about when they can take the next vacation out of the country. July 24 through today, July 7...where are they now in this global economic crisis? Sailing on board a $250,000/week charter throughout the Italian & French Rivieras. Kind of snubbing the Danes now, aren't they? The ones who pay for their lavish lifestyle. How many days/year do F&M work? Really work. Lets see...maybe 20? Compare any other Royal Family's work ethic to F&M and see how they compare. Nice job ;) http://www.isifa.com/result_ed.php?search_id=996684
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