The Royal Yacht Dannebrog

From 3 February 2023 to 18 February 2024

Watch the opening of the exhibition live 2 February at 1 pm (in Danish)

The Royal Danish Collection invites visitors to Koldinghus abord the Royal Yacht Dannebrog. The exhibition, which gives an impression of life on board for both the Royal Family and the ship’s crew, is set in the four-storey 800-m2 Ruin Hall at Koldinghus.

The Royal Yacht Dannebrog was built in 1931–1932 and serves as the official and private residence for HM The Queen and other members of the Royal Family on summer cruises in home waters or state visits overseas. During cruises, the Royal Yacht also takes part in surveillance, sea rescue operations and training of future naval officers.

Photo: During the time of Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, the Royal Family gave the public unprecedented insight into their family life. The Royal Yacht Dannebrog became an iconic setting of the modern monarchy. This photograph shows the Royal Family on the yacht in 1955. Photographer: unknown

The Royal Yacht is more than a ship that forms the setting of the Royal Family’s life at sea and carries them on voyages to meet the Danes. It is a floating palace that serves as a royal residence, a personal home, a training ship and a workplace.

Expanding over the multiple levels of the Ruin Hall, the exhibition gives visitors a sense of being on board the ship itself in a setting of canvas, deck chairs and lifebelts with a view of the approach through the coastal inlet Kolding Fjord and accompanied by the sound of the engine mixed with the voices of the sailors and the cries of seagulls on the upper decks.

Photo: When Queen Margrethe took over the Royal Yacht in 1972, it also came to serve as a holiday home to the young Royal Family. Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim joined their parents on the summer cruises and became accustomed to life at sea. Photograph from 1973. Photographer: unknown

The exhibition presents a wide range of objects associated with the Royal Yacht, including The Queen’s embroidered cushions for the ship, watercolours painted by Her Majesty on board, sailor suits worn by HRH The Crown Prince and HRH Prince Joachim in the 1970s and the spray nozzle that Frederik IX used for his morning shower on the quarterdeck. The story of life on board over three generations is told through the Royal Family’s private films and photographs.

The exhibition is a revised and expanded presentation of the exhibition ‘THE ROYAL YACHT DANNEBROG’, which was shown at M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark in 2022.