Why are King Frederick X and the Danish monarchy so popular in the world?

The Danish ambassador to Colombia, Erik Høeg, spoke with EL TIEMPO about the Danish monarchy, following the proclamation on Sunday of Frederick X as the new king following the historic abdication of Margaret II, the longest living monarch on the throne. She also spoke about the economic outlook and cooperation with Colombia on different fronts.

(Also: Frederick X, the rocker and soccer fan who was proclaimed the new king of Denmark)

Frederick Who is the new king of Denmark and what kind of monarch will he be?

Indeed, Federico What we hope is that there is continuity. Being a constitutional monarchy, the king does not have strong real political power, but, obviously, his words are listened to with interest. The monarchy has the ability to transmit values ​​that unite us as a country and represent continuity in the nation.

And Queen Margaret II, her mother, abdicated at the age of 83 after being the only reigning queen in the world after the death of Elizabeth II…

Exactly, Her Majesty Queen Margaret II is very popular among the entire Danish population. She managed that position for 52 years with great professionalism and responsibility. Now that he decided to abdicate, something that is not normal in Nordic monarchical systems, since the last time a Danish king abdicated was in the 12th century, we had a big party in Copenhagen not only to welcome the new King Frederick wife, Queen Consort Mary, of Australian origin, but to celebrate his mother's long reign. For us, the monarchy is something that is part of our culture.

(Also: How will the arrival of Prince Frederick as king of Denmark impact the crown?)

Precisely, polls estimate that seven out of ten Danes support the monarchy. Do you think it will remain this way with Federico X?

Of course his reign means change. It is also a change of generation. Although the monarchy represents a tradition, it also changes with the times, adjusting to the norms of the countries. For us, for example, it was only the male heirs who could be monarchs and that was changed, now both princes and princesses have the same rights and, of course, it also depends on the profile of each one.

What differences do you see between Margarita and Federico?

Queen Margaret II abdicated due to health reasons, in my opinion after 52 years ruling she also has the right in a certain way to leave the position to her son. But, she is still a person very interested in culture, she even has an innate artistic talent. The prince and now king Frederick X comes with other interests. For example, he is a very active sports person, a football lover, he also comes with training in the Danish Armed Forces and his wife, now queen consort, is of Australian origin…

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Has the queen consort adapted to Danish culture?

Perfectly. In a few years he learned Danish perfectly, I can say that he speaks it better than me, and he is a super popular person, which also means that he will be a strong support for the crown. Being a person who comes from Tasmania, a southern island of Australia, he makes this really something new, but also demonstrates the changes of the times. That past time where monarchs looked for their future husbands and wives only in the circle of the monarchy has passed, now we are in a moment where a king or queen, even with their institutional role, can choose, let's say, with their heart, who you want to marry.

Although the monarchy does not interfere in government affairs, do you think that Frederick

I think the important thing is to remember that in our system, the king has a representative protocol role, his political role is very limited. In Denmark we have a strong parliamentary system that comes from a very consolidated democracy. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen leads the Government whose system is parliamentary. Regarding what is happening in other parts of the world, in reality, Danish monarchs in recent decades have spoken very little, although of course they can give speeches that are aimed at expressing their values ​​and where they can express their rejection of war as a phenomenon. In that sense, the king has power of opinion, but not over the representation of the nation.

What relevance then do monarchies have in the world at this time?

Precisely, the question of values ​​of continuity of tradition in very modern and globalized societies. I think that for a large part of the population it seems important to have that element of continuity, of tradition, especially at a time of globalization where everything changes. In our case, for Danes, the monarchy represents values, fundamentally, of our own history, and that is very important. But, I think that the mystery that the monarchy represents, something a little out of the ordinary, also explains the popularity that occurs in our Nordic countries.

Let's now talk a little about Denmark. We recently saw the news that a pharmaceutical company. Danish company that became the most valuable company in Europe. What is the secret of the Danish economy?

That's right, the Danish company Novartis is the one with the greatest value in the European stock markets. And this reflects a couple of things. First, an economy where we have a lot of focus on education. We have a very good infrastructure and security, but what many Colombians do not know is that we also have a very high tax system. Although we have a very progressive system, with a lot of social equality, where we redistribute wealth to those most in need, we also really have very few taxes on companies. We are really very, very successful in a knowledge economy where the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector is very strong. And that requires a very good infrastructure and a quality educational system.

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Added to that is the issue of renewable energies…

Traditionally, Denmark was an agricultural country with many pigs. We even had more pigs than people. We have now moved, like many other countries, to a technology knowledge economy. Renewable energies, with companies that are active here in Colombia, such as Novartis, have investment funds that develop renewable energies in Denmark and also want to do so in Colombia. An example is the wind turbine producers in Denmark, which are the largest producer of these, something that is quite surprising considering that we are only six million inhabitants. We were pioneers in wind energy and we have been guiding our economy to leave aside oil and gas as our vision of the future, and we see renewables as a serious source of employment and growth.

Are they leveraging Colombia on that?

We have good harmony with the government of Gustavo Petro, as we also had with the previous government of President Iván Duque, focused on the energy transition. On the one hand, we are training Colombian institutions and we also have a new cooperation program focused on energy planning and renewable energies, specifically wind energy. On the other hand, we want to promote more specific wind energy projects in the department of Atlántico with an agreement that we are working on.

Denmark, until the 1970s, was totally dependent on energy sources such as coal, often Colombian coal, by the way, and oil and gas for its energy generation. But, we started exploring ourselves and now more than 50 percent of our energy generation comes from wind. We have decided to stop giving new licenses to explore oil and gas in the North Sea, because we really don't see it as the future.

Something important, which also adds to the entire transformation that Artificial Intelligence will mean…

That's true. We are not the best performing country in the world, according to UN surveys in the digital public sector. So, yes, we work with the new tools.

Ambassador, you have been in Colombia since 2020. What is your assessment of these three years?

Yes, I am already a veteran of the diplomatic corps, in that sense. In these years, I have really seen a very strong strengthening in bilateral relations that have left us with two new cooperation programs: one in clean energy and now we have a Danish advisor who works and all Danish institutions are supporting. And, now, we have a city cooperation program, it wants to become the first carbon neutral city in the world and, in that sense, we are starting with cooperation now between Copenhagen and Bogotá and Medellín to also exchange experiences. They are all cities with a strong green ambition to transition to a circular economy and clean transportation.

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What other experiences do you exchange with Bogotá and Medellín?

Good wastewater management. They are areas where we are contributing our knowledge and hopefully they will serve to make a city like Bogotá, not that it is resplendent, but that it is cleaner. We have greatly strengthened cooperation on energy issues and addressing climate change in general. The green agenda is very strong and there is a lot of potential to cooperate.

What educational initiatives do you have for student exchange?

In Denmark we manage a decentralized plan by universities. For example, there is a university in the south of Denmark that has scholarships for Colombian students in technical engineering subjects. And like this, we have many options that can be consulted on the embassy website, there you can also find the university exchange programs.

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We know you like to cook, what is your favorite Colombian dish?

Well, I have cooked many Colombian dishes and I have a cooking show that you can follow on my social networks. But, I must say that the aborrajados are very good, as is the carimañola. I don't think I can choose just one dish, there are many and I don't want to offend any region, because everywhere I've gone I've tried very good things. A good rice with coconut and fried fish is fantastic, the Cartagena posta is unmatched and that, clearly, excites me to learn to cook. Let's see if I can learn them all before I leave (laughs).

STEPHANY ECHAVARRÍA
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
TIME