Beauty Is Restored...

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30534, 1 September 1964, Page 2

Beauty Is Restored...

The Little Mermaid of Copenhagen, who was beheaded earlier this year by vandals, has had her head restored and is as beautiful as ever, Mrs P. J. Skellerup, of Christchurch, was glad to find when she went to see the famous little statue during a visit to Denmark in June. Mrs Skellerup is the wife of a City Councillor.

“She looks as though nothing had ever happened to her. They still had the mould and a new head was cast. The new copper has even been oxidised to the same green shade as the body,” Mrs Skellerup said yesterday.

She has just returned home after accompanying her husband on an 18-week business trip overseas, which has included such highlights as being presented to the King and Queen of Denmark, a visit to the World Fair in New York, and a drive through the Kruger National Park in South Africa where

they saw hundreds of wild animals in their natural surroundings. The Danish Consul in the South Island, Mr Skellerup, who is of Danish descent, attended a convention in Copenhagen of Danish consuls and vice-consuls from all over the world. As members of this gathering, he and his wife were invited to the Christianborg Palace to meet King Frederik and Queer! Ingrid. Guards in full dress uniforms, complete with bearskins, lined the way as they entered the palace and mounted a marble staircase. In contrast, Danish royalty were not hedged about by stiff protocol, and mixed freely with their guests and their people in everyday life, Mrs Skellerup said.

One of the princesses the couple saw was Princess Anne-Marie, who will marry King Constantine of Greece this month.

A performance of the Royal Danish Ballet was given at the palace, to entertain the guests, Mrs Skellerup said. One of the excursions she made with other consuls’ wives was to the works where royal Copenhagen porcelain is made. “It is still expensive, even In Denmark,” she said. But a beautiful plate in the distinctive soft blue of the ware, showing the Little Mermaid on her rock, was among the items she brought home with her. Other trips in Denmark included one to the little village of Skellerup, and another to the castle at Elsinore, where the film of Hamlet was shot

On the way to Europe, the couple also visited Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and went down to the Dead Sea, 1300 ft below sea level. “There is a salt works there, and quite big hills of salt. And it was very hot . . . she said. Though disappointed she could not visit the sites of Biblical significance which are in Jordanian territory, over a guarded and sandbagged border. She was interested to see the way the people of Israel are building up their country. “They are doing a lot of work there. On the border, Israel Is green and Jordan is brown. Orange Blossom “There was such a wonderful scent of orange blossom as we drove through the orange groves, too.” In London, the couple attended a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, at which the preacher was the former Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. Martin Sullivan).

“It was a great thrill to meet him again.” The Skellerups’ son and three daughters flew to Fiji to meet them and accompany them home.