While much of Europe tilted its head skyward on August 12, one royal detour in Copenhagen turned heads for an entirely different reason. King Frederik X of Denmark, a monarch better known for his love of horsepower and classic rock than celestial mechanics, made an unannounced stop at the Rundetaarn, the Round Tower at the heart of the Danish capital, to reopen its public observatory as a partial solar eclipse swept over the city.
Nobody had pegged the king as an astronomy buff. Cameras caught him swinging open the dome’s shutters himself, producing some striking images, before he settled in at the eyepiece of a telescope dating to 1929 to watch the eclipse unfold overhead.
The building he chose for the occasion carries real historical weight. Commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1637 and 1642, the Rundetaarn houses the oldest observatory in active use anywhere in Europe. It’s a living symbol of Copenhagen’s centuries-old relationship with the stars.
Reopening its landmark dome restores the tower to its central role in Danish science outreach, with the moment gaining extra resonance ahead of its full return to visitors this October.
Tower director Jeanette Bursche greeted the king on arrival and led him up the building’s famous spiral ramp, pausing along the way at the exhibition “Ole Rømer and the Great Discovery,” a nod to the Danish astronomer who first calculated the speed of light. Astrophysicist Christina Toldbo, who now directs the observatory, walked the king through the Folkeobservatoriet’s programming and the mechanics of the eclipse before he threw open the dome’s shutters and took his turn at the restored telescope.
There’s a family thread running through all of it. Frederik X descends directly from Christian IV, the tower’s founder; both trace back to the House of Oldenburg, whose unbroken line eventually folded into today’s House of Glücksburg when the crown passed between branches of the same family tree in 1863. Different dynastic names, same bloodline — which makes the current king less a visitor to Christian IV’s legacy than its rightful heir, astronomy and architecture included.
Queen Mary’s equestrian detour in Germany
© dpa picture allianceThe image of Frederik, known around Denmark for his taste in fast cars and classic rock, bent over a centuries-old telescope was plot twist enough on its own, but it didn’t stop there. Halfway across Europe, Queen Mary was writing her own subplot, representing Denmark at the CHIO Aachen equestrian festival in Germany, host this year of the 2026 FEI World Championships, where she crossed paths with Princess Amalia of the Netherlands and Spain’s Infanta Elena.
Photos from the event show the trio visibly enjoying each other’s company.
The Danish royal household made the most of the moment, releasing dramatic images of the eclipse over the tower and using the occasion to mark the king’s return to public duties after the summer recess. His regular audiences pick back up on Monday, August 17.
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