Port Esbjerg honoured with royal visit

The mayor of Esbjerg Jesper Frost and Port Esbjerg CEO Dennis Jul Pedersen welcomed Her Majesty at the Dock together with a crowd of local well-wishers waving hundreds of flags.

“The Dock is often referred to as Esbjerg’s cradle, as the basin was the first part of the harbour to be built and Esbjerg grew around it. That’s why it made perfect sense for Her Majesty to begin her tour of the city at the Dock,” says Jul Pedersen.  

The planned route also brought Her Majesty to the East Harbour, which epitomises the green journey of the port of Esbjerg from a hub of oil and gas activities to an epicentre of offshore wind power. Her Majesty also gained an insight into the planned expansion of the East Harbour.

“It was a real pleasure to have the opportunity to show Her Majesty the East Harbour, as it exemplifies how the port of Esbjerg continues to develop,” explains Jul Pedersen, who is delighted that the port still gets the chance to feature as the setting for royal visits.

Not the first visit 

It has actually happened quite a few times before. Before this year, Her Majesty visited the port of Esbjerg in 2008, but her first visit was as far back as 1952 when she made a flying visit in the company of her sisters and mother, HM Queen Ingrid. This visit formed part of the royals’ journey to England, when they travelled from Copenhagen to Esbjerg by train and then by ferry to England. Thus the first visit was really only a brief stop, but even so some 3,000–4,000 locals braved the rain to pay tribute to the royals.

This August, Her Majesty travelled by open carriage from the reception at the Dock to Esbjerg Town Hall and the Esbjerg Performing Arts Centre, among other places. Her Majesty’s carriage was accompanied by the Guard Hussar Regiment’s Horse Squadron, which made a festive display on the waterfront at the arrival of the royal yacht.