Abdicating Queen Margrethe II Of Denmark Has A Surprising Tolkien Connection

[MummyChunk]

From G

****

Queen Margrethe II might be one of the only IRL monarchs with a
legitimate connection to Tolkien

Queen Margrethe II, ruler of Denmark, will abdicate her throne this
week. She is, by all accounts, well-loved in the country, so if you re
into monarchy that s great, I guess. However, she s an interesting
character away from the throne, and is well learned in archeology,
decoupage (posh collaging), and screenwriting. She has attended
archeological digs, written two films, designed the sets for three
more, and even made a cameo in one.

However, few people know about her connection to Lord of the Rings
author J. R. R. Tolkien. In the early 70s, shortly before she
ascended to the throne, she drew some illustrations for Tolkien s
iconic fantasy book. I guess preparing to rule a country isn t that
taxing.

According to Tolkien s publisher Rayner Unwin in his book George Allen
& Unwin: A Remembrancer, then-Princess Margrethe sent her
illustrations directly to Tolkien, who greatly enjoyed them. Tolkien,
an instinctive royalist, was delighted by the letter, and a little
correspondence ensued, Unwin explained. Many people have spotted
similarities between the Queen s illustrations and Tolkien s own, but
I would wager Margrethe s are more abstract, which led to one of them
being printed upside down in The Folio Society edition of The Lord of
the Rings. But more on that later.

Using the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer, a partial anagram of her name,
Margrethe first published her unique take on Lord of the Rings
illustrations with the Danish translation of the books.

In 1977, The Folio Society got in touch to use her illustrations for
its forthcoming publication, in which experienced engraver Eric Fraser
edited the illustrations to make them easier to reproduce
successfully. This edition of The Lord of the Rings was reissued in
2002, presumably to cash in on the success of Peter Jackson s film
adaptations, and is still available today.

Queen Margrethe also appeared in a documentary about Tolkien, called
J. R. R. T.: A Film Portrait of J. R. R. Tolkien and narrated by the
inimitable Judi Dench, in which she read her letter to the author and
showed some of her drawings that she sent him, including an
unpublished sketch of the Council of Elrond, and a drawing of the
Scouring of the Shire which Tolkien described as dismally and meanly
hideous . If you know the chapter, you ll understand that s a
compliment. He also said the image was dreadfully like what happened
to the village in which I lived as a child, almost as soon as I left
it.

Queen Margrethe s passion for fantasy and Tolkien is unmistakable, and
the fact she quotes from the text so easily and readily shows how many
times she s read Tolkien s work. It s also interesting to hear her
compare Tolkien s descriptions of Saruman s despicable buildings to
those that the Nazis built in her native Denmark during World War 2,
during which she was a child. Much like the Hobbits coming back to the
Shire after destroying the Ring, a child Margrethe would have been
shocked by the stark architecture of Denmark s occupiers.

The documentary also shows that Margrethe s Tolkien illustrations
didn t stop after ascending to the throne. She shares a watercolour
based on the events of The Silmarillion (particularly the tragedy of
Turin Turambar), which she dates to the late 70s.

Queen Margrethe s illustrations are some of my personal favourites,
and I d put her just below the greats of Alan Lee and John Howe, on
the same level as the Brothers Hildebrandt and John Blanche when it
comes to iconic imagery from Middle-earth. With more time on her hands
in the near future, perhaps her retirement will result in a deluge of
more Tolkien illustrations to be published in translations or special
editions in the forthcoming years. We can only hope.