Events from the year 2011 in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Incumbents

* Monarch –

Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent fema ...

* Prime minister –

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the le ...

(until 3 October),

Helle Thorning Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

Events

January

* 10 January – Denmark and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

signs a defense agreement. * 13 January – Lene Espersen, party leader of the Danish Conservative Party, announces her resignation from the post after a period of intense criticism in the media and from fellow party members. * 14 January – Lars Barfoed is elected as new political leader of the Conservative party. * 19 January – Denmark starts the trial against the Somali man who attacked Kurt Westergaard.

February

* 24 February – A Danish family is kidnapped from their private yacht off the coast of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

by Somali pirates.

March

* 13 March – By unanimous vote, Denmark's Parliament authorized direct military action by its air force to help enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973, marking the only time so far in the state's history that military commitment was supported by full parliamentary unity. The

Royal Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force ( da, Flyvevåbnet, lit=The Flying weapon) (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of The Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Defence. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was ...

is participating with six F-16AM fighters, one C-130J-30 Super Hercules military transport plane and the corresponding ground crews. Only four F-16s will be used for offensive operations, while the remaining two will act as reserves. The first airstrikes from Danish aircraft were carried out on 23 March with four aircraft making twelve sorties as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

reported in May 2011, that Danish F-16 fighters killed Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Arab Gaddafi.

April–June

* 14 April –

Crown Prince Frederik Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, (Frederik André Henrik Christian; born 26 May 1968) is the heir apparent to the Danish throne. He is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. Early life Crown Prince Frede ...

and

Crown Princess Mary Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, (born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson; 5 February 1972) is the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. Frederik is the heir apparent to the throne, which means that should he succeed, Mary w ...

's twins are baptised at a ceremony in the

Church of Holmen The Holmen Church ( da, Holmens Kirke) is a Parish church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having ...

in Copenhagen and given the names Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander and Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda. * 26 April – Bo Lidegaard is appointed as new editor-in-chief of the newspaper

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

. * 16 May –

Bella Sky Hotel The AC Hotel Bella Sky Copenhagen, formerly the Bella Sky Comwell Hotel, is a 4-star conference hotel adjacent to the Bella Convention and Congress Center in the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, Denmark. With 814 rooms, it is the largest hotel in ...

is inaugurated in

Ørestad Ørestad () is a developing city area in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the island of Amager. The area was developed using the new town concept, closely linked with the M1 line of the Copenhagen Metro. Economically, income for the plan would be genera ...

, Copenhagen. With 814 rooms, it becomes the largest hotel in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. * 28 May –

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...

's artwork Your Rainbow on the top of the ARoS Museum of Art in Aarhus is inaugurated. * 31 May – Lors Doukaiev, the would-be bomber from the Hotel Jørgensen explosion, is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for last September's failed plan to send a letter bomb to

Jyllands-Posten ''Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten'' (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to ''Jyllands-Posten'' or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circula ...

. * 3 June –

Copenhagen Suborbitals Copenhagen Suborbitals is an amateur, crowd-funded, and open-source human space program. Since its beginning in 2008, Copenhagen Suborbitals has flown five home-built rockets and two mock-up space capsules. Their stated goal is to have one of th ...

, a private non-profit rocketgroup, makes their first successful full-scale test-launch of the HEAT 1X rocket from a self-built ramp off the coast of Bornholm. * 22 June – Denmark recognises the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council of Libya ( ar, المجلس الوطني الإنتقالي '), sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, was the ''de facto'' government of Libya for a period during and after the Libyan Civil War ...

as the only legitimate representation of Libya.

July–September

* 2 July – A cloudburst hit parts of Zealand and the Greater Copenhagen area. *15 September – The

2011 Danish parliamentary election General elections were held in Denmark on 15 September 2011 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing. Of those 179, 175 members were elected in Denmark, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The incumbent centre-right coalition led by ...

is held and leads to a majority for the opposition parties * 28 September – The 73-year-old listed

K.B. Hallen K.B. Hallen is a multi-purpose arena located at Peter Bangs Vej in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally, it was used primarily for badminton, tennis, basketball and volleyball, but also hosted other events, including dance ...

event venue in Copenhagen is devastated by fire.

October–December

* 3 October – The Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt is presented at

Amalienborg Palace Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors arou ...

and Helle Thorning-Schmidt takes office as the first ever female PM of Denmark.

Culture

Architecture

* 7 March –

Henning Larsen Architects Henning Larsen Architects is an international architectural firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1959 by Henning Larsen, it has around 750 employees. In 2008, it opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and in 2011, an office in Munich, ...

' ''The Wave'' in

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality ('' kommune'') and th ...

and C. F. Møller Architects' ''Darwin Center phase II'' extension of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

in London are among the winners of 2011 Civic Trust Awards. * 19 May – Danish architecture firms receive three out of eight

RIBA European Award RIBA European Awards are part of an award program by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Complemented by the RIBA National and International Awards, it rewards "the excellent work being done by RIBA members in the European Union outside the ...

s when the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

announces the annual RIBA Award winners. Two of the awards go to Lundgaard & Tranberg and one goes to

3XN 3XN is a Danish architectural practice with head office in Copenhagen. History The company was founded in Århus in 1986 as Nielsen, Nielsen & Nielsen (later 3 X Nielsen) by Kim Herforth Nielsen, Lars Frank Nielsen and Hans Peter Svendler Nielse ...

Film

* 16 January –

Susanne Bier Susanne Bier (; born 15 April 1960) is a Danish filmmaker. She is best known for her feature films '' Brothers'' (2004), '' After the Wedding'' (2006), ''In a Better World'' (2010), and '' Bird Box'' (2018), and the TV miniseries ''The Night Man ...

's ''

In a Better World ''In a Better World'' ( da, Hævnen, "The Revenge") is a 2010 Danish drama thriller film written by Anders Thomas Jensen and directed by Susanne Bier. The film stars Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, and Ulrich Thomsen in a story which takes ...

'' (''Hævnen'') wins the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. * 20 February – The 64th Bodil Awards are held at the Bremen Theatre in Copenhagen. '' R'' wins the awards for Best Danish Film. * 27 February –

's ''

'' also wins an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. * 20 May – Nicolas Winding Refn wins the Best Director Award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. * 3 December – At the 24th European Film Awards, Denmark tops the list of countries with most nominations with 14 and wins several of the most prestigious awards: ** Best Film: ''

Melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...

'' by

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier ('' né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nomina ...

** Best Director:

(''

'') ** European Achievement in World Cinema: Mads Mikkelsen ** Best Cinematographer. Manuel Alberto Claro (''Melancholia'') ** Best Production Designer: Jette Lehmann ('' Melancholia'') * 31 December – Danish films sold 3.4 million tickets at the boxoffice in Denmark in 2011, or 27% of the total ticket sale, with '' A Funny Man'' as the best selling Danish film on the home market with 471,819 admissions.

Gastronomy

* 26 January – Danish chef

Rasmus Kofoed Rasmus Kofoed (born 1974) is a Danish chef and restaurateur who won the gold medal at the 2011 Bocuse d'Or, after previously taking the bronze medal in 2005 and the silver medal in 2007 in the same competition. He is the head chef and co-owner ...

wins the

Bocuse d'Or The Bocuse d'Or (the ''Concours mondial de la cuisine'', World Cooking Contest) is a biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France, at the SIRHA Inter ...

competition. * 16 March –

René Redzepi René Redzepi (born 16 December 1977) is a Danish chef and co-owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant Noma in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark. His restaurant was voted the best restaurant in the world by '' Resta ...

's restaurant Noma in Copenhagen's Christianshavn neighbourhood is ranked as the best restaurant in the world for the second year in a row on the magazine '' Restaurant''s list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants.

Literature

Music

Television

Sports

Badminton

* 20 February – Denmark wins gold at the 2011 European Mixed Team Badminton Championships by defeating Germany 3–1 in the final. * 8–13 March –

Mathias Boe Mathias Boe (born 11 July 1980) is a badminton player from Denmark. He was the gold medalist at the 2015 European Games, two time European champions winning in 2012 and 2017, and the silver medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He joined the Den ...

and Carsten Mogensen wins gold in Men's Double at the 2011 All England Super Series Premier. * 14 August

Peter Gade } Peter Høeg Gade (born 14 December 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark)BWF World Ranking
Bwfbadminto ...

wins a bronze medal in men's single at the 2011 BWF World Championships.

Cycling

* 3 June – Alex Rasmussen wins the 27th

Philadelphia International Championship The Philadelphia International Championship was an annual bicycle race held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was described as "America's top international cycling classic, and one of the richest and most prestigious one day races outside of Euro ...

, the longest and most prestigious single day race in the United States. * 1925 September The

2011 UCI Road World Championships The 2011 UCI Road World Championships took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, over 19–25 September 2011. The event consisted of a cycling road race and a time trial for men, women, men under 23, and for the first time since 2004 the junior men and ...

are held in Copenhagen.

Football

* 22 May – For the second year in a row,

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

wins the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

by defeating

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Supe ...

in the final.

Golf

* 5 February –

Thomas Bjørn Thomas Bjørn (born 18 February 1971) is a professional golfer from Denmark who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he ...

wins

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

on the

2011 European Tour The 2011 European Tour was the third edition of the Race to Dubai and the 40th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. The season began in December 2010 with the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, a ...

. * 28 August –

wins Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and becomes Golfer of the Month in August. * 4 September –

wins

Omega European Masters The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with E ...

on the 2009 European Tour.

Handball

* 30 January –

win silver at the

2011 World Men's Handball Championship The 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, the 22nd event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Sweden from 13 to 30 January 2011. All matches were played in Malmö, Lund, Kristianstad, Gothenburg, Skövde, Jönköping, L ...

after being defeated 37–35 by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in final.

Motorsports

* 29 May – Nicki Sørensen finishes 2nd in the 2011 Bayern-Rundfahrt.

Swimming

* 8 December—11 – With 5 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 2 bronze medals, Denmark finishes as the second best country at the

2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships were held in Szczecin, Poland, from December 8 to 11, 2011. The event featured competition in a short course (25m) pool. The event was held over four days with heats, semifinals and a final f ...

Births

* 8 January ** Prince Vincent, prince of Denmark ** Princess Josephine, princess of Denmark

Deaths

* 1 January - Flemming Bamse Jørgensen, singer and actor (born 1947) * 23 January – Poul Volther, furniture designer (born 1923) * 27 January –

Tøger Seidenfaden Tøger Seidenfaden (28 April 1957 – 27 January 2011) was a Danish journalist and political scientist, and, from 1993 until his death, editor-in-chief of the broadsheet newspaper ''Politiken''. His father, Erik Seidenfaden, was also a journali ...

, journalist, editor-in-chief of

(born 1957) * 2 March – Erling Kroner, jazz trombonist, composer and bandleader (born 1943) * 9 March – Inge Sørensen, swimmer (born 1924) * 6 April –

Thøger Birkeland Thøger Birkeland (20 March 1922 – 6 April 2011) was a Danish teacher and writer mostly known for his children's books. Birkeland was born in Kalundborg. The most notable of his works are ''Saftevandsmordet'' (''The Lemonade Murder'') and the st ...

, author (born 1922) * 11 June -

Kurt Nielsen Kurt Nielsen (19 November 1930 – 11 June 2011) was a Danish tennis player. He was born in Copenhagen, and was the first Danish tennis player ever to have played in a men's singles final in a Grand Slam tournament. Nielsen reached the singl ...

, tennis player (born 1930) * 27 June - Erling Olsen, politician (born 1927) * 13 August - Ellen Winther, opera singer and actress (born 1933) * 22 August – Jesper Klein, actor (born 1944) * 9 September - Esben Høilund Carlsen, film producer and director of

Norsk Film Norsk Film was a Norwegian film production company established in 1932 and disestablished in 2001. It was located in Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast ...

* 11 September – Christian Bakkerud, racing driver (born 1984) * 27 September –

Erik Wedersøe Erik Wedersøe (18 July 1938 – 27 September 2011) was a Danish actor, director and author. Among his most famous roles are the psychiatrist "Pigernes Ole" in Lars von Trier's Riget II and Ulf Thomsen in the Emmy awarded (2002) Danish televisio ...

, actor (born 1938) * 17 October - Poul Glargaard, actor (born 1942) * 24 October - Margit Brandt, fashion designer (born 1945) * 2 November -

Papa Bue Arne "Papa" Bue Jensen (8 May 1930 – 2 November 2011), known as Papa Bue, was a Danish trombonist and bandleader, chiefly associated with the Dixieland jazz revival style of which he was considered an important proponent. He founded and led t ...

, jazz trombonist and bandleader (born 1930) * 7 November - Lisbeth Movin, stage and film actress (born 1917) * 19 November - Karl Aage Præst, footballer (born 1922) * 1 December - Ragnhild Hveger, swimmer (born 1920)