Crown Princess Mary of Denmark is a supportive daughter-in-law! Crown Prince Frederik’s wife attended the gala premiere of Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction on Wednesday in Copenhagen. The Netflix movie, which is based on Karen Blixen’s book Ehrengard, features set design and costumes by the Crown Princess’ mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe II . The 83-year-old monarch, who was dressed in red for her big night, created around 70 decoupages for the film’s scenography.
In a previous statement, Her Majesty said: “Karen Blixen’s stories have always fascinated me, with their aesthetic tales, their imagination and their, to me, image-creating worlds - and I’m very happy to be part of this project. You can feel that the author was a visual artist just like H.C. Andersen. But who is Ehrengard? One of Karen Blixen’s intriguing female characters and one of the few whose story ends happily.”
“The intrigues weave themselves in and out of each other and Blixen spins her spin around the characters until we (and they) are completely nonplussed. How will the riddle be solved? I have tried to interpret Blixen’s fantastic universe in the creation of the découpages and costumes and I’m looking forward to seeing the tale of Ehrengard come to life in this film,” the Queen continued.
The film’s director, Bille August, has previously praised the monarch’s decoupages, saying: “The Queen has created the most fantastic decoupages for the occasion, and they will be the dominant feature of the film’s overall scenographic expression.”
Her Majesty is an honorary member of the Association of Danish Scenographers. Per Netflix, Queen Margrethe has been “actively engaged in a number of artistic modes of expression: painting, church textiles, watercolours, prints, book illustrations, découpage works, scenography and embroidery” since 1970.