The ambassadors were out in full force on Tuesday at the queen’s reception for the diplomatic corps at Christiansborg Palace. In total, some 85 heads of mission were invited.

True to her word on New Year’s Eve, the queen attended without her 81-year-old consort, Prince Henrik, who is retiring from public duties

As is traditional, the heads of mission lined three walls of the palace’s Knights’ Hall waiting to be introduced to the queen

And then they were presented to Queen Margrethe and the Crown Prince Couple – in this case Nicaraguan ambassador Ricardo Jose Alvardo Noguera

As is our tradition, we try our best to show you the ambassadors not often seen in Copenhagen circles, either because they are based in one of the other Scandinavian capitals or new or relatively new to the job. Among the European contingent present were (left-right): Swedish ambassador Fredrik Jorgensen, Swiss ambassador Benedikt Wechsler, Estonian ambassador Mart Volmer and the Holy See’s apostolic nunciature Henryk Nowacki

Representing Latin America with gusto were (left-right): Peruvian ambassador Jose Berarun Aranibar, Colombian ambassador Sonia Duran Smela and Cuban ambassador Yiliam Sardinas Gomez

Flying the flag for Asia were (left-right) were: Bangladeshi ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Laos’s ambassador Bounpheng Saykanya and Vietnamese ambassador Trough Thanh Nguyen

And doing Africa proud were (left-right): Tunisian ambassador Mohamed Karim Ben Becher, Benin’s ambassador Eusebe Agbangla and Tanzanian ambassador Dora Msechu