On the streets of Copenhagen, the sound of drums boomed from the square and a blur of red and white flags came into view. People on cherrypickers tidied up buildings and staff at a department store replaced sales flags with the national one.
The arrival of a single police car, parked in the middle of the road, stopped traffic. Minutes later, the square filled with the sound of horses’ hooves on cobbles as riders arrived carrying brass instruments and silver swords followed by an empty carriage pulled by six horses. It was the rehearsal on Friday for the once-in-a-generation event set to unfold in little more than 48 hours: the formal abdication of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II.
