Tense Denmark-Greenland relations

Denmark’s royal family is immensely popular in Greenland, the country’s former colony and now a sovereign territory.

Nevertheless, that affection did not prevent many of Greenland’s younger population from admitting to mixed feelings as the nation watched King Frederik’s accession to the throne on January 14, following his mother Queen Margrethe’s surprise abdication.

“I feel as though I’m standing outside a bubble looking in at a lot of Greenlanders cheering and being extremely happy and proud that Frederik has become king,” 38-year-old Qupanuk Olsen told Reuters.

He was speaking in the capital Nuuk while his fellow-Greenlanders watched a giant screen set up by a cultural organisation as Frederik was proclaimed Head of State of Greenland and the Faroe Islands as well as Denmark.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland became a self-governing autonomy in 2009 when it also acquired the right to separate from Denmark.

A move towards independence is gradually gathering support following disclosures of past transgressions on the part of the Danish authorities.

These have affected Greenland women now seeking compensation for the effects of a non-voluntary birth control campaign in the 1960s.

Earlier, in a mid-50s experiment, children were taken from their families in Greenland to be “integrated” into Danish society.

Relations with Denmark are now sometimes strained, recently visible in May 2023 when  Greenland MP Aki-Matilda Hoegh-Dam refused to speak Danish during a debate in the national parliament.

Instead, she used Greenland’s Inuit language for a speech that lasted nearly seven minutes, irritating bemused politicians and highlighting ongoing differences between both countries.