New books: Margrethe II on Margrethe II

It is always a joy to read interviews with such an articulate, intelligent and thoughtful monarch as Queen Margrethe II. And as she herself admits that she finds it difficult to keep her mouth shut she is by now probably the most interviewed monarch in history.
It has almost become a tradition that major anniversaries are marked with a book of interviews with the Queen and her 70th birthday was no exception. Margrethe – Mit liv i billeder is written by the television journalist Helle Bygum and published by Lindhardt & Ringhof.
Queen Margrethe talks about her life – her childhood, her education, her role as head of state, her father, her husband, her children, her art, her faith, her mother, her New Year speeches, her daughters-in-law and her grandchildren. But I can only echo Politiken’s reviewer Helle Hellemann (external link) in observing that the Queen has said most of this before – something which is of course bound to happen sooner or later considering the many interviews she gives.
The book centres around 100 or so photos chosen by the historian Jon Bloch Skipper (author of a biography of Frederik IX and another book of interviews with Queen Margrethe and her sisters), which the Queen makes comments about. The quality of the paper does however not do full justice to all of the photos.