The new King of Denmark Frederik
Kongeord , “The word of a king” in French: this is the title of the memoirs recently published by the new sovereign of Denmark, Frederik X, as he has just ascended the throne after the abdication of his mother Marghrete II . Aged 55, the former party animal recalcitrant to royal protocols takes a sober look at his past years, and gives his vision of the future at the head of a constitutional monarchy and a royal family with a centuries-old past.
In this autobiography which has enjoyed dazzling success in Denmark, Frederik X also returns to the place of Lutheran Christianity in his country, as well as his relationship with God. He defines faith as a bond which binds not only man to God, but also to others and to a common history, and confides his attachment to the religious services which he likes to attend, in a country which is not very religious.
Although 72% of Danes are registered as members of the national Church and less than 1% Catholic, only about 25% say they believe Jesus is the Son of God and about 1/5th consider religion to play an important role in their life. It therefore seems that the new king falls into the latter category. In a surprisingly personal passage, he says he prays every day with his wife, Queen Mary, and their 13-year-old twins. They always recite the Our Father before going to bed. “For my wife and I – and for many other Danish parents, I think – evening prayer is a small but living expression of our faith, which we do not want to do without. »
The Lord’s Prayer, the Christian’s prayer par excellence
The Lord’s Prayer is considered the greatest of Christian prayers, in that it was taught by Christ himself to his disciples to teach them how to pray. The Fathers of the Church described it as the summary of the entire Gospel and St. Thomas Aquinas called it “the most perfect of prayers.” In 2016, Pope Francis also said that he always prays the Lord’s Prayer five times before going to bed. “In the evening, before going to bed, I say this short prayer: “Lord, if you want, you can make me pure! » And I pray five “Our Fathers”, one for each of Jesus’ wounds, because Jesus purifies us with his wounds.
