Margrethe II of Denmark

Margrethe II of Denmark Biographical information Born April 16, 1940 Style Tolkienesque Images Gallery Location Denmark

Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, or Margrethe II, is the queen regnant of Denmark. She is also an artist whose works have been inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's literature from a very young age, and - under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer - her art has illustrated British and Danish editions of The Lord of the Rings. Her works of art are examined in the film documentary J.R.R.T.: A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien.

In the eary 1970s, the Queen was inspired to illustrate The Lord of the Rings. She sent her illustrations to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity to the style of his own drawings. In 1977, Queen Margrethe's drawings were published in the Danish translation of the book (Ringenes Herre, edition by publishers Gyldendal; one illustration for each chapter[1]), redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser. Under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer her illustrations were also featured in a British edition of The Lord of the Rings, published by The Folio Society.

Queen Margrethe gave permission to use her illustrations in the CD layouts for the musical interpretation of the poems and songs from The Lord of the Rings by the Danish music group The Tolkien Ensemble.

"Rayner Unwin was always keen on anecdotes and a friendly soul and he participated a number of times at the annual Oxonmoot arranged by the English Tolkien Society. For instance when in 1998 he told the Danish participants the thrilling story of how the special edition of The Lord of the Rings illustrated by Ingahild Grathmer came into production in 1977:

'Would you believe it, when we met with Her Majesty to have the designs for the book approved, she exclaimed: 'But why did you turn one of my drawings upside down?' I have never been so embarrassed, my face turned all red. Imagine, I just couldn't see what was up and down on her drawing," he acknowledged and gave a big smile of the funny episode.

Ingahild Grathmer is the pseudonym used by H.M. Queen Margrethe II at the time of publication in 1977." (Lars-Terje Lysemose[2])

1992: Tolkien Centenary Conference 1992 [Recollection; untitled] (from an interview conducted by Thorkild Hansen in 1979)