Dear Mother,--After Christmas Johan and I went to Copenhagen, where I was presented to the King and the Queen. I was first received by the _Grande Maîtresse_, Madame de Raben, and three _dames d'honneur_, who were all pleasant but ceremonious. When the Queen entered the room and I was presented to her she was most gracious and affable. She motioned me to sit down beside her on the sofa. She said that she had heard much about me. She spoke of my father-in-law, whom she _loved_, and Johan, whom she _liked_ so much. She was most interested to hear about you and the children. She had heard that Nina promised to be a beauty. "If children would only grow up to their promises!" I said. "Mine have," said the Queen; "they are all beautiful." She showed me the photographs of the Princess of Wales and the Grand-Duchess Dagmar of Russia. If they resemble their pictures they must indeed be beautiful. The _salon_ in which we sat was filled with drawings, pastels, and photographs, and was so crowded with furniture that one could hardly move about. "I've been told," the Queen said, "that you have a splendid voice and sing wonderfully. You must come some day and sing for me; I love music." Then we talked music, the most delightful of subjects. The King came in. He was also perfectly charming, and as kind as possible. He is about sixty years old, but looks younger, having a wonderfully youthful figure and a very handsome face. The King preferred to speak French, but the Queen liked better to talk English, which she does to perfection. "Have you learned Danish yet?" the King asked me. "Alas! your Majesty," I answered, "though I try very hard to learn, I have not mastered it yet, and only dare to inflict it on my family." "You will not find it difficult," he said. "You will learn it in time." "I hope so, your Majesty--Time is a good teacher." He told me an anecdote about Queen Desiree, of Sweden, wife of Bernadotte, who on her arrival in Stockholm did not know one word of Swedish. She was taught certain phrases to use at her first reception when ladies were presented to her. She was to say, "Are you married, madame?" and then, "Have you any children?" Of course, she did not understand the answers. "She was very unlucky," the King laughed, "and got things mixed up, and once began her conversation with a lady by asking, 'Have you any children?'" The lady hastened to answer, "Yes, your Majesty, I have seven?" "Are you married?" asked the Queen, very graciously. "You must not do anything like _that_," said the King, smilingly. I promised that I would try not to. The _Grande Maîtresse_ came in, and I thought it was the signal for me to go--which apparently it was. There was a little pause; then the Queen held out her hand and said, "I hope to see you again very soon." The King shook hands kindly with me, and I reached the antechamber, escorted by the ladies.