It is the doctors’ assessment that the long flight combined with the demands and expectations that come with a state visit would be too stressful for The Queen in her current treatment situation.  

The Queen and The Prince Consort have instead asked HRH The Crown Prince and HRH The Crown Princess to head up an official visit, during which most of the already-planned program will be followed in, among other places, Santiago, Valparaiso and northern Chile. 

Approximately 50 companies are taking part in the visit, which has as one of its main goals the strengthening of commercial relations between Chile and Denmark in, among other areas, farming and food products, fisheries and aquaculture, mining, energy and environment, and health.  

A multifaceted cultural program is an important part of the visit. Works by Asger Jorn are being displayed at Chile’s oldest and most prestigious museum, Museo de Bella Artes, as this year’s exhibition. In connection with the visit, meetings between Danish and Chilean poets will be established, and children’s literature is included in the program.
 
Denmark is known in Chile as a pioneering country in the area of human rights. In that connection, Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights and The Danish Institute for Human Rights are holding a joint conference about teaching human rights. 

The final part of the official visit will take The Crown Prince Couple to the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile, which is ESO’s (The European Southern Observatory’s) flagship for astronomy and where Denmark has been a contributor for many years.