Current News
Inge Mitchell, Obituary
It is with great regret and sadness that we announce the passing of our long-standing member Mrs Inge L. Mitchell, R on Saturday 28th June 2025.
Inge Mitchell arrived in the UK in the 1950s. She worked at the Danish Consulate in Birmingham for a few years. She also worked as the PA to HRH Prince Georg of Denmark, who was the Defence Attaché at the Royal Danish Embassy for several years in the mid-1960s. Later on she held a PR position for the Baltic Exchange.
She was the Honorary Secretary to the Anglo-Danish Society for many years and in recognition of her tireless work for the Anglo-Danish Society, she was honoured with the Order of Dannebrog.
She was married to the first BBC News Presenter Leslie Mitchell (1905-1985).
A memorial for Inge L. Mitchell will be held at The Danish Church in London on September 19th at 3pm.
Anglo-Norse Spring Events
The Anglo-Norse Society has very kindly invited our members along to their spring events listed on the Events page
If you’d like to attend their events, please sign up via e-mail to AngloNorse2019@outlook.com and pay any relevant fees directly to them.
Drapers Hall Concerts and Dinners
We are very pleased to let you know that Drapers’ Hall has once again – as per tradition – invited us to take part in their concerts and dinners series this spring.
For more details, please see on the Events Page.
Photo provided by the Drapers’ Company
Our Royal Patrons
We are absolutely delighted to announce that both His Majesty King Charles III and His Majesty King Frederik X have graciously accepted the Patronage of the Anglo-Danish Society. This would be wonderful news at any time but in this, our Centenary year, it has a greater significance and will mean so much more for our members as they celebrate reaching such a significant milestone in our history. Our purpose has always been to improve relations between Britain and Denmark and our new Patrons will continue to reflect that aim and unity of purpose.”
We have been very privileged to have had two Royal Patrons, most recently the late Queen and Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark until her abdication earlier this year. In addition, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Denmark and Greece) was an Honorary Member until his death in April 2021.
HRH the Duchess of Gloucester GCVO has been the Protector of the Scholarship Programme since 2011. We enjoy her continued and generous support of our Society.
Our Society was founded on 17th December 1924 with the encouragement of Her Majesty Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark).
As Sir Andrew Stark, Chairman, stated in his speech at our Diamond Jubilee Gala Dinner at the Savoy in 1984: ‘A group of Danish and British gentlemen presided over by Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig had decided that Anglo-Danish relations, having proceeded favourably for over 100 years, should be further developed and encouraged by the creation of an Anglo-Danish Society in London.’
Queen Alexandra was the first to sign the Society’s guestbook in April 1925. She died at Sandringham in November that same year. Her son, King George V, signed on 4th February 1926 followed by King Christian X, Queen Alexandrine and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (later King Frederik IX) – our first Royal Patrons.
During the following years members of our two royal families and dignitaries from the worlds of Politics, the Armed Forces, and the Arts were actively involved in the Society.
The famous ballet dancer, Dame Adeline Genée-Isitt, became our first female Chairman (1931-1933). Names like Lord Alexander, Clement Attlee, Sir Anthony Eden, Christmas Møller, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Victor Schiøler and many more spring from the pages of the guestbook.
HE the Danish Ambassador to the Court of St James’s, René Dinesen, is our current Honorary President and the Head of Representation of the Faroe Islands in the UK, Kate Sanderson, is our Honorary Vice President.
This year we celebrated our Centenary and the main event was a Centenary Gala Dinner, which took place at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London on Friday, 6th December 2024.
Photo: King Frederik by Steen Evald, Kongehuset ©
Our Centenary Dinner
Our grand Centenary Gala Dinner at Drapers’ Hall on 6th December 2024 was a great success and we believe everyone had an enjoyable and memorable evening. We certainly felt as if we managed to celebrate our centenary in style – and in a manner that befits and reflects our Society and our history up until now.
The musical performances by the Danish Royal Life Guards, the jazz trio 3Elements and the Band of The Royal Yeomanry were excellent as were the speeches by HRH the Duchess of Gloucester LG GCVO, the Protector of our Scholarship Programme and joint Guest of Honour with her husband, HRH the Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO, and Wayne Harber, our Chairman.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended, helped out in various ways, and responded to our Centenary Appeal.
The evening’s souvenir programme will be available on our website shortly and more details will also be included in our next newsletter, which is due out at the beginning of 2025.
Our professional photographers from Gerald Sharp Photography took a large number of great photos on the night. Guests can order prints on the website – https://sharpphoto.co.uk/f403393019– or simply download individual photos for free (click on the download sign above the individual photos).
Downloaded photos are only for private use and if used on social media, please use the captionPhotos: http://www.sharpphoto.co.uk’ ‘ . For commercial use, please contact info@anglo-danishsociety.org.uk. © The Anglo-Danish Society
Lastly, we would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
We’re looking forward to seeing you again next year and furthering the impact of our Society. Roll on the next 100 years!
Photos: http://www.sharpphoto.co.uk
Centenary Appeal
2024 is the Centenary of the Anglo-Danish Society. It was founded 100 years ago to further relations between our two nations and is at the centre of the Anglo-Danish community, providing a wide-ranging annual programme of news and events that celebrates both cultures and appeals to a wide group of people who are interested in Anglo-Danish matters. Its membership is concentrated in London and the South East but it has members in Denmark, the rest of Europe and around the globe. It collaborates with other Danish organisations, and the main Anglo-Nordic groups, on events of mutual interest. To mark such a significant anniversary, we are celebrating the Centenary with a Gala Dinner on Friday 6th December at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London, that will be a very special occasion.
We have supported education since 1959 and our investment in the youth of our two countries continues today with its charitable Scholarship Programme that provides financial support to British and Danish postgraduate students with scholarships worth £3,500 each. This funding support makes a real difference to the Scholars by enabling research and facilitating a broader educational experience beyond a curriculum.
The Society relies entirely on the work and commitment of its volunteers, with no paid staff, no overheads and minimal administrative costs. To be able to continue supporting our community we need your help and any donations, regardless of the amount, will be gratefully received. However, if you are able to donate more than £200, we will include your name in the Gala Dinner Souvenir Programme in recognition of your generosity.
Bank transfer payments to NatWest, Sort Code: 55-70-13, Account No: 78325285 and please write DONATE100 as the reference.
Our Centenary Logo
We are pleased to reveal the winner of our centenary logo competition 2024.
We would like to thank those of you who submitted your sketches and logo suggestions to us as part of our centenary logo competition. It was clear that you all had spent time planning out your designs which included as many Danish and British references as possible..
Having carefully considered the logo suggestions, we have selected this one, which is an excellent representation of our values, combining the colours and designs of our flags plus our usual logo. This logo was designed by Mr John Fairley and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him and his guest to our Centenary Gala Dinner on Friday, 6 December 2024.
We’d like to wish John many congratulations and say a massive thank you for his work on this logo.
You’ll notice our new Centenary logo on our website, Facebook and printed versions throughout the year.
New Royal Patron announced for the Anglo-Danish Society
New Royal Patron announced for the Anglo-Danish Society
We are both honoured and delighted to announce that HM King Charles III has very kindly agreed to continue the Royal Patronage of the Anglo-Danish Society following the death of our previous Patron, HM Queen Elizabeth II, and a thorough review of all the Patronages held by The late Queen, the former Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall as well as the new Prince and Princess of Wales.
We have been very privileged to have had two Royal Patrons, most recently The late Queen and Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark until her abdication earlier this year. In addition, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Denmark and Greece) was an Honorary Member until his death in April 2021.
HRH the Duchess of Gloucester GCVO has been the Protector of the Scholarship Programme since 2011. We enjoy her continued and generous support of our Society.
We are currently awaiting news about Danish Royal Patronage from Amalienborg Palace following the succession of King Frederik X on 14th January 2024.
Our Society was founded on 17th December 1924 with the encouragement of Her Majesty Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark).
As Sir Andrew Stark, Chairman, stated in his speech at our Diamond Jubilee Gala Dinner at the Savoy in 1984: ‘A group of Danish and British gentlemen presided over by Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig had decided that Anglo-Danish relations, having proceeded favourably for over 100 years, should be further developed and encouraged by the creation of an Anglo-Danish Society in London.’
Queen Alexandra was the first to sign the Society’s guestbook in April 1925. She died at Sandringham in November that same year. Her son, King George V, signed on 4th February 1926 followed by King Christian X, Queen Alexandrine and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (later King Frederik IX) – our first Royal Patrons.
During the following years members of our two royal families and dignitaries from the worlds of Politics, the Armed Forces, and the Arts were actively involved in the Society.
The famous ballet dancer, Dame Adeline Genée-Isitt, became our first female Chairman (1931-1933). Names like Lord Alexander, Clement Attlee, Sir Anthony Eden, Christmas Møller, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Victor Schiøler and many more spring from the pages of the guestbook.
HE the Danish Ambassador to the Court of St James’s, René Dinesen, is our current Honorary President and the Head of Representation of the Faroe Islands in the UK, Kate Sanderson, is our Honorary Vice President.
This year we are celebrating our Centenary and the main event will be a Centenary Gala Dinner, which will take place at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London on Friday, 6th December 2024.
Crazy Christmas Cabaret 2023
CRAZY CHRISTMAS CABARET 2023
This is an absolute must see if you’re in Copenhagen before Christmas….a true holiday tradition! For decades Danes and Brits have been laughing with the London Toast Theatre and their annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret.
More information on www.londontoast.dk
