Guards change at Amalienborg Palace

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope, that you are all doing just fine!

In this article I want to tell you about this amazing moment in the life of Danes, when the guards change in the Amalienborg palace, where there’s this large square and people can go and watch.

Well, of course, I didn’t know many things about the traditions of Danes and what I knew was not enough to get to know the whole Copenhagen, not to mention the whole Denmark, so that I got some new information little by little by being there and doing some research, because I wanted to see many things there in Copenhagen and its surroundings, so that I had to google some information about many things in Copenhagen, so that I would know, when to visit them and where they were located and why I had to visit them and what I would see there, etc. So that, when I got home after 4 p. m., when my lectures in internal medicine were over, I would just walk around the city and then when I got home in the late evening, I would start my research and plan the next day and what I would see then.

So that, I would like to tell you about me being present for the guard change, however, this was not the full guard change, because it was summer and there’s no one in the palace during the summer season, because it’s the royal winter palace and the royal family resides there from September to Apriland that’s when you have to go to the Amalienborg palace to see that fascinating ceremony of the guard change.

Well, I’m sure, that you have heard about guard change, which takes place in many other countries rather than Denmark in many places and since Denmark has its royal family and it’s governed by its king and queen, the guard change is a pretty significant thing for them and for the people, who really look forward to the guard change and they go to Amalienborg palace just to see that ceremony.

I was there in Amalienborg palace in the summer to see the guard change and I was pretty surprised how many people there were and what they would do just to get closer to the guard and I imagine, what they would do in other occasions, where there is the full guard change during the September to April, when there’s the royal family in the palace.

The Danish Royal Guard

So, a little bit about the Danish Royal Guard. Den Kongelige Livgarde is the Danish name for the Danish Royal Guard. It’s an infantry regiment of the Danish Army, which was founded in 1658 by the King Frederik the 3-rd, and it serves two roles. The first one is the line combat unit and the second is the guard or the ceremonial unit to the Danish monarchy.

The motto of the Danish Royal Army is “Pro Rege et Grege”, which means “For King and people” and their coat of arms is the crown with the motto on it and it’s pretty simple and firm, if you ask me.

The guard uniform consists of bearskin headdresses, which are black in colour, and dark blue tunics with some thin red stripes and light blue trousers with white stripes on the edges.

So, the guard change ceremony takes place in the Amalienborg Palace at 12:00 midday and it’s a daily thing, I must say. The guard leaves Rosenborg Castle half an hour earlier to the midday, so that they will be at Amalienborg Palace at 12 o’clock to change the guard.

There are some different ceremonies for the guard change and it all depends on whether the monarch is at Amalienborg palace or not, or who in particular, is in the residence. There are Kongevagt, Løjtnantsvagt and Palævagt ceremonies, which are “King’s Watch”, “Lieutenant Watch” and “Manor Watch” in English.

The first ones are conducted, when there are royal family members in the residence or something like that and they are accompanied by musical instruments and stuff and the third one is Palævagt or “Manor Watch”, which takes place, when there’s no royal family in palace and then there’s no music accompanied the guard, and, to tell you the truth, that was the case, when I was there in summer watching the guard change ceremony in Amalienborg Palace.

Me watching the Guard Change Ceremony at Amalienborg Palace

Well, I had been planning visiting Amalienborg palace for a long time while being there in Denmark, and there was this last day of me being there, when I would go there to see the Guard Change ceremony, because other days were not good for that, I mean, I had some other plans in other days and, hence, I wouldn’t be able to be there at Amalienborg Palace at 12 o’clock at noon to see the Guard Change there. And, besides, the ceremony wouldn’t last for a couple of minutes, so that I could go to another interesting place, so that I could see all the things, that I wanted to see there and, therefore, I decided to visit it on that day, when I was then leaving Copenhagen to another country.

Anyways, I went out pretty early and walked to the Nyhavn, where I would stay a little bit and look at the canals once again. Then, when it was almost 12 o’clock, I went to the Amalienborg Palace, not that I knew, where exactly it was, however, I had my google maps turned on and I could just easily find it that way.

So, finally I was at Amalienborg palace and I was really surprised, how many people there were gathered around the Amalienborg palace. However, the people were like standing in line in half circle and they were waiting for the guard to show up. Then I realized, that they were not supposed to get any closer there, because the guard needed its space to do the ceremony of the Guard Change. There were people in green uniforms restricting people to go any closer to the palace and they were standing just in the edges of the square there. I guess, most of them were tourists, because the local residents usually don’t really watch the Guard Change when there is no royal family residing the Amalienborg palace and since it was summer, we all knew, that the royal family was not there and, hence, the Guard Change was not going to be accompanied any music or things like that.

Well, when I went there, the people around were really excitedabout the guard change and that was why they all wanted to stand just in front of the others and see the guard from the front rows. They all just wanted to get closer and closer and the people in uniforms could barely stop them.