Denmark’s ruler, Queen Margrethe II, will abdicate the throne this week. I think that’s great if she’s interested in the monarchy because by all accounts she’s very loved in this country. But she is an interesting character even away from the throne, and she is well-studied in the fields of archaeology, decoupage (high-class collage), and screenwriting. She participated in archaeological excavations, wrote two films, designed the sets for three, and even had a cameo in one.
But few people know about her connection to Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. In the early 1970s, just before she ascended the throne, she illustrated some of Tolkien’s iconic fantasy books. I don’t think preparing to govern a country is that difficult.
According to Tolkien’s publisher, Raynor Unwin, in his book George Allen and Unwin: The Obituaries, the then Princess Margrethe sent her illustrations directly to Tolkien, who loved them. “Tolkien, a natural Royalist, was delighted by the letter and a short correspondence ensued,” Unwin explained. Many people have noticed similarities between the Queen’s illustrations and Tolkien’s, but I would wager that Margrethe’s illustrations are more abstract. So one of hers was printed upside down in the Folio Society edition of The Lord of the Rings. But more on that later.
Using the pseudonym Ingahild Glasmar, a partial anagram of her own name, Margrethe first published her own interpretations of The Lord of the Rings illustrations, along with Danish translations.
In 1977, the Folio Society contacted her to use her illustrations in their next publication, and experienced engraver Eric Fraser edited the illustrations to make them easier to reproduce successfully. This version of The Lord of the Rings was reissued in 2002, presumably to capitalize on the success of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation, and is still available today.
Queen Margrethe also appeared in the documentary about Tolkien, JRRT: A Film Portrait of JRR Tolkien, narrated by the incomparable Judi Dench. There she read a letter to her author and showed him some of the paintings she had sent, including her unpublished works. A sketch of the Council of Elrond, and a painting of the Shire’s scour, which Tolkien described as “grim, vile and hideous.” If you know this chapter, you’ll know that’s a compliment. He also said the scene was “horrifyingly similar to what happened in my childhood village shortly after I left.”
Queen Margrethe’s passion for fantasy and Tolkien is unmistakable, and the fact that she so easily quotes from the text shows how much she has read Tolkien’s works. It’s also interesting to hear her compare Tolkien’s description of Saruman’s sordid buildings to the buildings built by the Nazis in her native Denmark during World War II when she was a child. Like the Hobbits who returned to the Shire after destroying her ring, her child Margrethe would have been shocked by the rough architecture of the Danish occupiers.
The documentary also shows that Margrethe’s Tolkien illustrations did not stop after she ascended the throne. She shares watercolor paintings based on the Silmarillion events of the late 70s (particularly the Tragedy of Turinbar).
The illustrations of Queen Margrethe are some of my personal favorites, and when it comes to iconic paintings of Middle-earth, they’re just below masters like Alan Lee and John Howe, and up there with Hildebrandt and the John Blanche brothers. Place her on your level. Perhaps her retirement will lead to more Tolkien illustrations being published in translations and special editions in the coming years, as she will have more time in the near future. We can only hope.