The traditional New Year’s Banquet and Levees in Denmark have become the latest casualties of the coronavirus.

A statement from the Royal Danish Court on Tuesday, 20 October 2020, says Queen Margrethe II has decided to cancel the New Year’s banquet scheduled on Friday, 1 January 2021 due to ‘the continuing spread of COVID-19 in Denmark’.

Members of the Danish government, the Speaker of the Parliament, representatives of ‘official Denmark’ and the Court usually attend the New Year’s Banquet.

The New Year’s levees for the Danish Supreme Court, the Royal Life Guards’ Officer Crop, the Guard Hussar Regiment, the diplomatic corps, the Defence, Emergency Management Agencies and representatives of large organisations and Royal Patronages, to be held on 4 and 5 January, were also cancelled.

A smaller scaled-down New Year’s levee will be held at Christianborg Palace on Monday, 4 January 2021 for the Prime Minister and a few other representatives of ‘official Denmark’.

These traditional celebrations were cancelled once before in 2005, following the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia at Christmastime in 2004.

However, wellwishers will be able to send digital New Year’s greetings to Queen Margrethe via the Royal Danish House’s website –  www.kongehuset.dk.

Queen Margrethe will deliver the traditional New Year’s Address on Thursday, 31 December 2020, at 6.00 pm local time.