King Frederik and Queen Mary are breaking with tradition this year by spending Christmas in Copenhagen.

The Danish monarch will host festivities inside the family’s winter residence, Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg, the Royal House has confirmed.

But key members of the family will be absent from the celebrations later this month.

“The King and Queen and their four children will celebrate Christmas at Amalienborg together with HM Queen Margrethe,” the palace said in a statement on Friday.

King Frederik and Queen Mary, and their children Crown Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, will attend a Christmas Eve service at Copenhagen Cathedral, also known as the Church of Our Lady.

It is the same cathedral where King Frederik and Queen Mary married in May, 2004.

They will return on Christmas Day for a morning mass before hosting lunch inside Frederik VIII’s Palace.

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Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, and their children, will spend Christmas in Washington D.C, in the US, where they have been living since late 2023. It’s not clear if Count Nikolai and Count Felix, who are Prince Joachim’s sons from his first marriage, will join them.

The Royal House shared a photo of King Frederik and Queen Mary lighting the first of the four Advent candles on Sunday, in the lead up to December 25.

The photo was taken inside Frederik VIII’s Palace.

Traditionally, the Danish royals celebrate Christmas at Marselisborg Castle in Aarhus where they remain until just after Boxing Day.

It was the setting for Christmas last year, the family’s first since the change of throne in January.

The royals have spent Christmas at Marselisborg, north-west of Copenhagen, since Queen Margrethe II ascended to the throne in 1972. They also spend Easter at the same residence. The castle is also used for private holidays throughout the year but mainly in summertime.

Queen Mary’s Australian Christmas

Before Christmas in Copenhagen, however, Queen Mary is likely to return to Australia to see her family during the festive season.

The Queen has a gap in her official diary from December 6 until December 23, meaning she may return to Australia to visit her family in Tasmania.

If she does travel here, Mary is likely to bring some of her children as King Frederik has engagements throughout December.

In 2015, 2017 and 2022 Mary and her family travelled to Australia to spend Christmas with her relatives in Hobart, where she was born.

Mary made a brief return to Australia just before Christmas in 2023 but was in Aarhus for the main celebrations.

The 53-year-old was briefly back in Australia, again, in late October in 2024 to attend her niece’s wedding in Tasmania. Mary was photographed with Princess Josephine at Sydney’s Bronte Beach before their return to Denmark.

After Christmas, King Frederik will deliver his New Year’s address to the people of Denmark, live, from Frederik VIII’s Palace.

It will be his second since becoming monarch.

In early January, the King and Queen will host their New Year galas at Amalienborg and the nearby Christiansborg Palace.

Danish Christmas traditions

Christmas in Denmark, which is called jul, is peak hygge season.

Much like across Europe, Denmark celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve.

The night is traditionally spent eating a fancy Christmas dinner and opening presents late into the night.

Food served at dinner usually includes roast pork and duck and boiled potatoes, red cabbage and gravy.

The main dessert is risalamande – a rice pudding topped with cherry sauce with an almond hidden inside – while other treats include æbleskiver (small fried doughnuts sprinkled with icing sugar), Christmas beer, gløgg (hot mulled wine) and candied almonds.

Danes often will dance around their large Christmas tree, holding hands, before opening presents.

The Christmas tree is decorated with real candles and an advent candle is typically burnt for one hour each day throughout December.

Julemanden, translated as the Christmas Man, is the Danish name for Santa who is assisted by his team of elves who are called Nisse.

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