HRH Princess Marie is attached to the Danish Emergency Management Agency in Birkerød as a special project staff member in the area of prevention from today, 27 June. 

Princess Marie went through emergency preparedness training within the operative duties of the Danish Emergency Management Agency in 2011 and was appointed an honorary first lieutenant. In the years since, the Princess has acquired a fundamental knowledge of the agency’s attention to duties through visits at the Danish Emergency Management Agency and several of the agency’s cooperating partners. The Princess has also taken part in a number of local activities and exercises.

In her work for the Danish Emergency Management Agency, Princess Marie will participate in the formulation of a new focus area with specific duties. The objective is to strengthen the individual citizen’s and thus the society’s robustness in disaster situations. This occurs in continuation of the Danish Emergency Management Agency’s prevention strategy of strengthening the culture of preparedness in the population. The goal is to create robust citizens and local networks which are able to handle the consequences of disasters in the best possible way and can take responsibility for preventing and relieving disaster situations. Entering into this work are several projects in which, among other things, new prevention campaigns will be developed and carried out, and results of the effect of the new focus area will be collected.

 “We are proud that HRH Princess Marie will expand her current affiliation with the Danish Emergency Management Agency to a distinct task for the agency, and we are glad that the Princess will contribute her knowledge and her abilities to the important focus area which prevention and citizen robustness is,” says Danish Emergency Management Agency director Henning Thiesen.

Today, Princess Marie begins an introduction course, which will supplement the Princess’s knowledge of the operative duties with a strengthened knowledge of the official duties of the Danish Emergency Management Agency.

“From my involvement in the Danish Emergency Management Agency up till now and as patron of, among others, DanChurchAid, I have seen and experienced how important and crucial prevention and preparation are for being able to handle disaster situations as effectively and professionally as possible when they arise. I see this extra step into the Danish Emergency Management Agency as a natural development for me and am pleased to work on problems of current interest and a new focus area,” states HRH Princess Marie.    

The Princess’s new connection as a special project staff member has the status of voluntary service. Parallel with her work at the Danish Emergency Management Agency, the Princess will continue to attend to her other commitments, cooperative efforts and patronages as a member of the Royal Danish House.