Day job: Queen of Denmark. Side project: Netflix set designer.
Margrethe II, the Queen of Denmark and commander-in-chief of the Danish Defense, will supply set designs for Ehrengard, a new Netflix film which Danish Oscar winner Bille August (Pele The Conqueror) will direct.
This is not the Queen’s first commission. Margrethe is an accomplished painter and illustrator — her drawings, published under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer — were used for Danish editions of The Lord of the Rings back in the early 1970s, and she has designed costumes for productions at the Royal Danish Ballet, as well as for Danish films and television series.
Books: Two terrific novels were published this week: “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers and “The Women of Troy,” by Pat Barker…Movies: No, I am not going to “Candyman” or “Free Guy.” The only decent movie in cinemas right now is “Respect”…TV/Streaming: You won’t believe how bad Nicole Kidman’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” on Hulu is…Luckily, Hulu’s “McCartney 3, 2, 1” is pretty great…Music: Lorde and Billie Eilish can huff and puff but it’s still Aaliyah and Nas who are atop the album charts…Sports: Watching the Paralympic Games is for me much more inspiring than the Olympics were.
