Crown Prince Frederik stands in for sick mother at parade

The annual passing out parade of the Danish Royal Life Guards took place at their barracks next to Rosenborg Palace while I was in Copenhagen on Wednesday. Queen Margrethe usually takes the salute, but as she had fallen ill with influenza while in London to open the British National Gallery’s Christian Købke exhibition, Crown Prince Frederik took her place.
Having inspected the guardsmen who have now completed their military service, the Crown Prince made a short speech, looking back at his own time as a conscript and specifically thanking the soldiers for having guarded the royal palaces and mansions during the coldest winter in 24 years.
In keeping with tradition the Crown Prince presented a watch to one of the guardsmen before the old guard passed out by parading past him.
With Rosenborg Palace as a spectacular backdrop the parade was quite impressive, but I was surprised to see that only some 30 or 40 spectators turned up.