By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2025-01-07 17:10:07 | Updated at 2025-01-08 15:30:45
22 hours ago
The new king of Denmark has changed the country’s royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland in an apparent rebuke of President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to take over the autonomous island.
King Frederik X started the new year by revealing his new royal coat of arms, which for five centuries has featured the three crowns of the Kalmar Union — a polity that existed from 1397 to 1523 consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, The Guardian reported.
The crowns have now been removed and replaced by much larger images of a polar bear and ram — symbols of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, respectively.
The move has been taken as a clear message about Denmark’s intention to maintain control over the autonomous territory — as Trump moves in, claiming it is a “necessity” for the US to attain “ownership” of Greenland to expand America’s land and exploit the island’s rich minerals.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede has also repeatedly said the world’s largest island, home to some 56,000 mostly Inuit people, is “not for sale and will never be for sale.”
The changed coat of arms also shows the Danish king — who took the throne just under a year ago — has no intention of letting the territory rule itself.
That, however, is supported by Egede, with the PM having called for the removal of its “shackles of the colonial era.”
The relationship between Denmark and Greenland has been strained after an investigation revealed Danish colonial officials forced thousands of young Greenlandic women to use contraceptives to deplete the population in the 1960s and 1970s, according to The Guardian.
The royal family said the three crowns had been removed as they were “no longer relevant.”
In his first address to the country in 2025, King Frederik said: “We are all united and each of us committed to the Kingdom of Denmark. From the Danish minority in South Schleswig – which is even situated outside the kingdom – and all the way to Greenland. We belong together.”
The royal coat of arms has been tweaked four times since 1819, with the previous changes in 1903, 1948 and 1972, according to The Independent.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland on Tuesday — with his dad saying it was part of his move to “MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” the incoming president posted on his Truth Social platform Monday night.
Sources close to the president told The Post Trump is “100% serious’’ about acquiring Greenland as part of his America-first strategy to counter China and Russia.
