Thursday, October 23, 2014

An adventurous story based on the life of Queen Margrethe II

Needless to say, all of the articles, book reviews, and TV appearances related to the new graphic novel on the life and times of Denmark's Princess Margrethe before she became queen have been in Danish.

All of them?

No.

The capital's English-speaking weekly, The Copenhagen Post, has printed a piece by Lucie Rychla on Daisy — en prinsesse i Danmark, along with a photo from the launching of the book at the French Embassy.The French ambassador (centre) Francois Zimeray hosted the book's author Erik Swan (right) and illustrator Thierry Capezzone (left) to mark the release of 'Daisy' (Photo: Hasse Ferrold)And, believe it or not, there is also an article in… Spanish, thanks to the Hola weekly.

(Notice that they get one of the authors' names wrong. Erik Svane is rendered as Erik Swan, supposedly because someone ran a Danish text through an automatic translation software without bothering to double-check the finished product; Thierry Capezzone remains as is.)


Comic book about Queen Margrethe released

Some 76 pages long, 'Daisy – a princess in Denmark' includes true stories from the Danish monarch's life

Daisy – a princess in Denmark', a comic book biography of Queen Margrethe II, was officially launched on September 16 at the French Embassy in the centre of Copenhagen.

According to it authors, Erik Swan and Thierry Capezzone, the illustrated biography will be the first instalment.

It covers the first 32 years of Margrethe's life, from her birth to coronation, and includes some episodes that many people will have never heard about before.

Once upon a time

The story begins just a week after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940, when a princess is born at the royal palace in Copenhagen. 

She is baptised Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, but people mostly call her by her family nickname, 'Daisy'.

Initially, everyone expects Daisy will remain 'just' a princess for the rest of her life.
But shortly before her 12th birthday, this studious and thoughtful girl finds out that one day – thanks to a constitutional change to the Danish Act of Succession – she will take over her father's throne and become Her Majesty Queen Margrethe.

To be continued ...

Over the course of 76 pages in their comic book, the France-based, Danish author Erik Swan and the Frederiksberg-based, Danish-French artist Thierry Capezzone unfold an adventurous story based on the life of  Queen Margrethe II.

The first volume ends when king Frederik IX dies in January 1972, and a day later Daisy is crowned the queen of Denmark.