Judging by what happened when Barack and Michelle Obama visited with the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II in Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace in 2009, it’s probably for the best that Donald Trump will not be making it there next month. The Obamas were treated to a library tour, attended multilateral presentations, and had to watch a bunch of ballet. When Trump tweeted Tuesday that he was postponing the trip because a discussion of a Greenland transaction is off the table, the Royal Danish House’s statement was terse. It “came as a surprise. That’s all we have to say about that,” the house’s communications director, Lene Balleby, said to the state broadcaster.

So while we can imagine that the Danish royal event planners are counting their blessings—they were probably not looking forward to bringing the big, gold New Year’s carriage out of storage four months early—it’s no wonder that the people of Denmark are feeling deeply insulted. So far there has been no reporting on the queen’s personal reaction, but because Margrethe invited the Trumps personally, she’s likely smarting from the blow. It’s certainly her biggest snub since the medical journal The Lancet blamed her smoking habit for the country’s rising mortality rates back in 2001. (Well, coming from someone besides her own husband, and even he made up for it with posthumous flowers.)

Though she visits Greenland occasionally and gave her children Greenlandic middle names, the complicated relationship between Denmark and the autonomous territory has likely been a thorn in Margrethe’s side since she became queen in 1972. In 2014, Aleqa Hammond, Greenland’s first female prime minister, doubted the queen’s sincere commitment to the isle’s people. “She has to visit us, whether she wants to or not, because she needs to keep an eye out for the state’s interests in Greenland and the Faroe Islands,” she said to a journalist.

If America took it off Margrethe’s hands, it might even free up some more time for her to focus on her hobbies, like archaeological digs and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Maybe Trump was just looking out for her in some sort of many-dimensional chess game. It’s not too outlandish a suggestion, and this very publication suggested mere weeks ago that Trump and Margrethe could become great friends due to their shared love of festivities and her high tolerance for drama. But in hindsight, it was truly never meant to be. She speaks five languages and has multiple advanced degrees. She has a pen name. What on earth do she and Trump have in common?

Margrethe is apparently an artist of some repute, so perhaps she will channel her mounting dismay and disappointment into a series of Trump paintings. Based on the cover of the 2012 book collecting her work, delightfully titled The Essence of Colour, she’s already adept at drawing some pretty strange creatures.

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Looking for more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss a story. </s> Heirs to the throne spend their lives preparing for the moment when they become monarch but it doesn’t always make it easy. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has revealed how she had to “step up” following her father’s tragic death.

The Queen of Denmark, Margarethe II, 79, is the monarch Donald Trump would have to pass in order to buy Greenland. The US president was due to visit the Danish royal in September but in a shocking turn of events, he cancelled his trip after it became clear the semi-autonomous island of Greenland was not for sale. Margarethe II is the second longest-ever reigning monarch of Denmark and ascended the throne in 1972. READ MORE: Queen vs Donald Trump: The Queen who can reject Trump Greenland bid

She became Queen following the death of her father, Frederick IX of Denmark. The Queen opened up about the heart-wrenching circumstances in which her reign began in an interview with Danish magazine ALT. Margarethe II said: “Dad became ill with pneumonia on the New Year’s night after his New Year speech on December 31, 1971. “He was admitted to the Municipal Hospital in Copenhagen, where his heart began to fail, and we could see that this was serious."

She continued: “At that time, we had New Year’s breakfast in the morning and New Year’s dinner later, and I had to represent my father as head of the family. “I remember very clearly thinking that this is not a one-time event. “It is rather the first time of many. I got it right. Dad died only 14 days later.”

The Queen touched on how the seriousness of her role hit her following her father’s death. She said: “We said goodbye to him at the Municipal Hospital, and I went back to Amalienborg, where the guard lieutenant from the royal guards, the major and the banner-officer brought the royal flags from my father and mother’s part of the castle, walked across the castle square and brought the flags to my rooms in Amalienborg castle as a visible sign that the burden of being monarch was now mine. “It was in many ways an emotional moment. “I was afflicted with grief and had just said goodbye to my father, and half an hour later, I received the lifeguard’s flags and was very conscious that now this was serious. Now it was time to step up!” The Queen’s father was laid to rest on January 24, 1972 - ten days after his death. </s> Denmark's Prince Henrik has announced that he does not plan to be buried with his wife, Queen Margrethe II, because he is upset about the fact that he was never made King Consort.

The pair have been married since 1967. And over the years, Henrik has repeatedly expressed his feeling that he has been slighted.

"It is no secret that the Prince for many years has been unhappy with his role and the title he has been awarded in the Danish monarchy. This discontent has grown more and more in recent years," the Royal Danish House's director of communications told tabloid BT, in a quote verified and translated by Reuters.

"For the Prince, the decision not to buried beside the Queen is the natural consequence of not having been treated equally to his spouse - by not having the title and role he has desired," the spokesperson told the wire service.

The BBC reports that the 77-year-old queen is "said to have accepted her husband's decision."

Henrik, 83, is originally from France, and is reported to be spending most of his time at a vineyard there since he officially retired last year.

In a 2015 interview with Le Figaro, he said he is angry and feels discriminated against. "Why be only a prince and merely a Highness but not Majesty, without any status?" the Prince said. "Denmark, which is known as a fervent defender of gender equality, would be inclined to consider husbands as worth less than their wives? How can we explain to younger generations the usefulness of the monarchical system?"

According to the Danish edition of The Local, he expressed frustration about being passed over to host a 2002 event his wife's absence:



"In 2002, when Margrethe was too ill to greet guests at a New Year's event, the Royal House opted to have Crown Prince Frederik act as host. Henrik, upset about being upstaged by his own son, vocally complained that he wasn't allowed to receive guests in 'his own home'. "In a follow-up interview with BT, he said he felt humiliated to be relegated to third-place status behind his wife and son."



Queen Margrethe is expected to be buried "in the Roskilde Cathedral in a sarcophagus made by Danish artist Bjorn Norgaard," according to the BBC. </s> Copenhagen: US President Donald Trump has cancelled a state visit to Denmark after the nation's Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen said Greenland was not for sale to the US. Trump's visit was scheduled on September 2, at the invitation of Denmark's Queen Margrethe II.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday: "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland,

I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time." Last week Trump had suggested that the US was interested in buying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

When Trump was asked on Sunday if he would consider trading a US territory for the island, he replied: "Well, a lot of things could be done." "Essentially it's a large real estate deal," he had said.

Danish politicians have launched a scathing critique of Trump for cancelling his visit to the Scandinavian country, Efe news reported. Many leading Danish politicians have taken to social media to criticise Trump's handling of the matter. "Trump lives on another planet.

Self-sufficient and disrespectful" Pernille Skipper, spokesperson for the Red-Green Alliance, tweeted. Former Prime Minister Helle Thorning also shared her bemusement over the issue.

"So the POTUS has cancelled his visit to Denmark because there was no interest in discussing selling Greenland. Is this some sort of joke? Deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark," she tweeted.

The opposition also shared its disbelief over the spat with the vice president of the liberal Venstre Party and former foreign affairs minister, Kristian Jensen, labelling it a diplomatic crisis.

"Total chaos with Donald Trump and cancellation of the state visit to Denmark. It has gone from a great opportunity for enhanced dialogue between allies to a diplomatic crisis.

Everyone should know that Greenland is not for sale," Jensen said. "Need to get the cooperation back on track," he added. Rasmus Jarlov, conservative spokesman for Greenland affairs, like many others, said Trump's actions were insulting.

"As a Dane (and a conservative) it is very hard to believe. For no reason Trump assumes that (an autonomous) part of our country is for sale. Then insultingly cancels visit that everybody was preparing for. </s> DENMARK was left stunned yesterday by Donald Trump’s decision to postpone a state visit after the government told the US president its autonomous terri­tory Greenland was not for sale.

The Danish Royal House expressed “surprise” at Trump’s cancellation while commentators accused Trump of acting like a “colonial overlord.”

“Based on Prime Minister Mette Fred­eriksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meet­ing scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

“The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct.”

His comments came two days after Frederiksen had rejected the president’s proposal to possibly buy Greenland as “absurd.” The decision confirms just how interested he was in purchasing Greenland, an idea initially dismissed as a joke by some, but which the White House later insisted had a serious pur­pose because of its strategic location.

Denmark’s prime minister said yes­terday she was “annoyed and surprised” that US President Donald Trump post­poned a visit after her government said its territory Greenland was not for sale, but insisted their ties remained strong.

“I am both annoyed and surprised that the US president has cancelled a state visit,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters, adding: “Denmark and the US are not in crisis, the US is one of our closest allies.”

The territory has been essential to US defence since World War II.

The postponement has sparked strong reactions in Denmark.

“Reality transcends imagination... this man is unpredictable,” said Morten Ostergaard of the Social Liberal Party, which is part of the ruling coalition.

“For no reason, Trump assumes that (an autonomous) part of our country is for sale. Then insultingly cancels visit that everybody was preparing for,” tweeted Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the opposition Conservative Party.

“Are parts of the US for sale? Alaska? Please show more respect.”

Marc Jacobsen, a Greenland specialist at the University of Copenhagen, said Trump was acting like “an ignorant co­lonial overlord.”

“Trump’s idea of purchasing Green­land is absurd, and it is absurd that he is now cancelling his state visit to Den­mark when he knows that there is no chance Greenland will become the 51st state of America,” he said.

Former US ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford wrote on Twitter: “He asks for an invitation from a great friend and ally. The Queen obliges invites him for a state visit. He declares the visit contin­gent on the great friend selling part of its territory to him This. Is. Not. Normal.”

“Mette Frederiksen has been given the opportunity to emphasize that Green­land’s big affairs are in fact decided in Copenhagen... strengthening Denmark’s position in this great strategic game at stake over the Arctic,” it said.

Trump, a former real estate magnate, has been curious about the area’s natu­ral resources and geopolitical relevance, The Wall Street Journal said. </s> COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a visit to Denmark next month after the prime minister described his plan to buy Greenland as “absurd” took the Danish royal palace by surprise, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Lene Balleby told The Associated Press Wednesday that the news was “a surprise” to the royal household, which formally had invited Trump to visit Denmark Sep. 2 and 3 as part of a European trip. She had no further comments.

Trump announced his decision by tweet after the Danish prime minister dismissed the notion of selling the semi-autonomous territory to the U.S. as “an absurd discussion.”

“Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump said.

There was no immediate reaction from the Danish government. Former government ministers were quick to speak out, however.

Martin Lidegaard, a former foreign minister, told broadcaster TV2 that it was “a diplomatic farce” and said Trump’s behavior was “grotesque” and he was “throwing a hissy fit.”

Trump’s cancellation was “deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark,” former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote on Twitter.

Claus Oxfeldt, chairman of Denmark’s main police union, told Danish media that authorities had been busy planning the third visit by a sitting U.S. president to the Scandinavian NATO member. “As far as I know, it has created great frustrations to have spent so much time preparing for a visit that is canceled,” Oxfeldt was quoted as saying.

Ordinary Danes shook their head at the news with many calling Trump an “immature” person “living on another planet.”

“He thinks he can just buy Greenland, he acts like an elephant in a china shop,” said Pernille Iversen, a 41-year-old shopkeeper in Copenhagen.

“This is an insult to (Queen) Margrethe, to Denmark,” said Steen Gade, a 55-year-old road worker.

Denmark’s U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands was apparently not informed of Trump’s decision.

Shortly before he canceled the trip on Twitter, she herself sent a tweet saying “Denmark is ready for POTUS,” using an acronym for “President of the United States” along with Trump’s Twitter handle, with a photo from Copenhagen’s City Hall square where a Dane had paid for two pro-Trump ads on giant electronic screens.

Trump had said Sunday that he was interested in buying Greenland for strategic purposes, but said a purchase was not a priority at this time. Both Frederiksen and Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen responded that Greenland is not for sale.

“The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct,” Trump said. “I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”

White House spokesman Judd Deere later confirmed that the visit to Denmark has been canceled. Trump’s visit to Poland is expected to be maintained.

Greenland sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. A 1.7-million-square-kilometer (660,000-square-mile) ice sheet covers 80 percent of the island.

Retreating ice could uncover potential oil and mineral resources in Greenland which, if successfully tapped, could dramatically change the island’s fortunes. However, no oil has yet been found in Greenlandic waters and the thickness of the ice means exploration is only possible in coastal regions.

Even there, conditions are far from ideal, due to the long winter with frozen ports, 24-hour darkness and temperatures regularly dropping below minus 30 Celsius (minus 20 Fahrenheit) in the northern parts.

It wouldn’t be the first time an American leader has tried to buy the world’s largest island. In 1946, the U.S. proposed to pay Denmark $100 million to buy Greenland after flirting with the idea of swapping land in Alaska for strategic parts of the Arctic island.

Under a 1951 deal, Denmark allowed the U.S. to build bases and radar stations on Greenland.

The U.S. Air Force currently maintains one base in northern Greenland, Thule Air Force Base, 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) south of the North Pole. Former military airfields in Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Kangerlussuaq have become civilian airports.

The Thule base, constructed in 1952, was originally designed as a refueling base for long-range bombing missions. It has been a ballistic missile early warning and space surveillance site since 1961.

Darlene Superville in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. </s> The astonishment in Denmark over President Donald Trump’s apparent desire to buy Greenland turned to bewilderment and anger on Wednesday after the American leader abruptly scrapped a state visit because the Danes have no desire to sell.

The cancellation was a rare snub of Denmark’s head of state, Queen Margrethe II, who had extended the invitation to the president and would have hosted him and the first lady.

Later in the day, Trump further strained ties, calling the Danish prime minister’s rejection of the idea “nasty.” News that Trump had called off his visit “came as a surprise,” the Royal House’s communications director told the state broadcaster, adding, “That’s all we have to say about that.”

Others, however, had more to say. “Is this some sort of joke?” Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former prime minister, wrote on Twitter. “Deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark.”

It was not a joke. A day earlier, Trump said on Twitter that Denmark was “a very special country with incredible people” but added that he was abandoning plans to visit because of the country’s refusal to sell Greenland, a semiautonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had said she had no interest in discussing the sale of Greenland. “Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland,” Frederiksen told a Danish newspaper this week. “I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said that she had been “nasty” to describe the suggestion as “an absurd discussion.” “All they had to do is say, ‘No, we’d rather not do that or we’d rather not talk about it,’” he said. “Don’t say what an absurd idea that is.”

He added, “You don’t talk to the United States that way.” Frederiksen, asked about his remarks on Danish television, said, “I’m not going to enter a war of words with anybody, nor with the American president.”

She said she found the Danish response to the president’s visit and its cancellation “good and wise.”

On Sunday, Trump said the idea of buying Greenland has been discussed in his administration because of the strategic benefits and in part because of its natural resources, like coal and uranium. He also suggested that the territory was a financial burden to Denmark. “Essentially, it’s a large real estate deal,” Trump told reporters on Sunday of his interest in buying Greenland. “A lot of things can be done. It’s hurting Denmark very badly, because they’re losing almost $700 million a year carrying it. So they carry it at a great loss.”

Greenland’s government is in charge of most aspects of its affairs except foreign policy and defense. Local governments have not managed to develop a sustainable economy and receive more than 50% of the island’s budget in direct subsidies topped with additional Danish spending on defense and enforcement of sovereignty. The total bill amounts to $740 million annually.

The idea of buying Greenland, which came to light last week, had been immediately and flatly rejected by leaders in Greenland and Denmark, who found themselves in the odd position at the time of having to publicly state that “Greenland is not for sale.”

On Wednesday, disbelief and condemnation echoed through the political landscape, as it began to sink in that Trump wasn’t kidding. “Please stop,” Martin Lidegaard, head of the foreign affairs committee in Parliament, wrote on Twitter, before citing several other areas of discussion that he said should be of interest to both countries: the Arctic, climate change and the Middle East.

“Total chaos,” the former finance minister Kristian Jensen wrote. “This has gone from a great opportunity for a strengthened dialogue between allies to a diplomatic crisis.”

Before Trump canceled his visit, Frederiksen told a television reporter on Sunday in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland: “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there.” She also added, “Jokes aside, we would naturally love to have an even closer strategic relationship with the U.S.”

But on Wednesday, Frederiksen acknowledged that the cancellation had been a surprise and “unusual” and that she “regretted” it. Adding to the already considerable awkwardness, Trump’s announcement that he was canceling his trip came not long after the American ambassador, Carla Sands, wrote on Twitter that Denmark was excited about the president’s visit.

A headline in Berlingske, a conservative daily, read “The U.S. and Denmark’s relationship has never been this ice-cold. It will have wide-ranging consequences.” A headline on the website of the state broadcaster read, “Trump sends Denmark and the U.S.’s relationship to the freezing point.”

Frederiksen, however, dismissed speculation that Danish-American relations had been damaged. “I don’t believe the relationship is in crisis,” she said Wednesday. “We are closely connected, and the United States is one of our most important allies. Our cooperation will only expand in strength and range.”

She said that any upcoming decisions about Danish contributions to military missions in Syria or the Strait of Hormuz would be unaffected. She added that Trump was welcome to visit the country at another time.

“The American president and the American people are always welcome in Denmark,” she said.

Many Danes had seen Trump’s visit as a recognition of a special relationship with the United States built on decades of friendly relations, mutual interests in the Arctic, and Danish responsiveness to American calls to action.

Danish troops took part in U.S.-led missions in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, where 43 Danish troops were killed, a staggering number for a nation of 5.5 million not used to war.

But the suggestion of a potential sale of Greenland by Denmark still stuck many as beyond the pale. “For no reason Trump assumes that (an autonomous) part of our country is for sale,” Rasmus Jarlov, a former minister of business, wrote on Twitter. “Then insultingly cancels visit that everybody was preparing for. Are parts of the U.S. for sale? Alaska? Please show more respect.” </s> After Denmark prime minister's comment, US President Donald Trump said that he scrapped his trip to Denmark

Escalating an international spat, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he scrapped his trip to Denmark because the prime minister made a "nasty" statement when she rejected his idea to buy Greenland as an absurdity. (Photo: File)

Copenhagen: Escalating an international spat, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he scrapped his trip to Denmark because the prime minister made a "nasty" statement when she rejected his idea to buy Greenland as an absurdity.

"You don't talk to the United States that way, at least under me," Trump told reporters in Washington. "I thought it was not a nice statement, the way she blew me off."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the whole thing "an absurd discussion" and said she was "disappointed and surprised" that Trump had cancelled his visit.

Trump said Frederiksen's comment labelling his idea as absurd "was nasty. I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to say was say, 'No, we wouldn't be interested.'"

Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of the US ally, and Frederiksen said the US remains one of Denmark's close allies. The political brouhaha over the world's largest island comes from its strategic location in the Arctic. Global warming is making Greenland more accessible to potential oil and mineral resources.

Russia, China, the US, Canada and other countries are racing to stake as strong a claim as they can to Arctic lands, hoping they will yield future riches. Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark on Sept. 2-3 as part of a European tour. But early Wednesday, he tweeted his decision to indefinitely postpone the trip. The move stunned Danes and blindsided the Danish royal palace.

Spokeswoman Lene Balleby told The Associated Press that it came as "a surprise" to the royal household, which had formally invited Trump. "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time," Trump said.

The vast island of Greenland sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, has a population of 56,000 and has 80 per cent of its land mass covered by a 1.7 million-square-kilometer (660,000 square-mile) ice sheet.

For all of Greenland's appeal, scientists consider it the canary in the coal mine for climate change and say its massive ice sheet has seen one of its biggest melts on record this summer, contributing to a global rise in sea levels. Frederiksen said she is standing behind the government of Greenland.

"A discussion about a potential sale of Greenland has been put forward. It has been rejected by Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen and I fully stand behind that rejection," she told reporters in Copenhagen.

Frederiksen, who took office two months ago in a minority Social Democratic government, went on to say that diplomatic relations between Copenhagen and Washington "are not in any crisis in my opinion" despite Trump's canceled plans. "The invitation for a stronger strategic cooperation with the Americans in the Arctic is still open," Frederiksen said, adding "the United States is one of our closest allies." Others in Denmark were not as gracious.

Martin Lidegaard, a former Danish foreign minister, told broadcaster TV2 that it was "a diplomatic farce" and Trump's behaviour was "grotesque." Trump's cancellation was "deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark," former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote on Twitter.

Claus Oxfeldt, chairman of Denmark's main police union, told Danish media that authorities had been busy planning the third visit by a sitting US president to the Scandinavian NATO member. "It has created great frustrations to have spent so much time preparing for a visit that is cancelled," Oxfeldt was quoted as saying. Ordinary Danes shook their heads at the news, with many calling Trump immature.

"He thinks he can just buy Greenland. He acts like an elephant in a china shop," said Pernille Iversen, a 41-year-old shopkeeper in Copenhagen. "This is an insult to (Queen) Margrethe, to Denmark," said Steen Gade, a 55-year-old road worker. In Greenland, Johannes Kyed, an employee with a mine company, told Denmark's TV2 channel that wanting to buy a country and its people is a relic of the past.

"This is not the way the world works today," Kyed said. The US ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, was apparently not informed of Trump's decision ahead of time. Shortly before Trump cancelled the trip on Twitter, she sent a tweet saying "Denmark is ready for POTUS," using an acronym for "President of the United States" along with Trump's Twitter handle and a photo from Copenhagen's City Hall square, where a Dane had paid for two pro-Trump ads on giant electronic screens.

Trump said Sunday he was interested in buying Greenland for strategic purposes, but said a purchase was not a priority for his government at this time. Both Frederiksen and Greenland leader Kielsen responded that Greenland is not for sale.

"The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct," Trump said in the tweet on Wednesday. "I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!" Trump is still expected to visit nearby Poland beginning on August, 31. </s> President Donald Trump canceled a state visit to Denmark after his offer to buy Greenland was met first with bemusement, then flat refusal. Anger followed, and even Queen Margrethe II was drawn into the fray.

Trump had been due to make his first visit to Denmark, a founding member of NATO and a U.S. ally in the Iraq war, on Sept. 2-3. A series of reports last week indicated he wanted to purchase Greenland, the world’s biggest island and site of a strategic American base. The territory is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, though it has extensive home rule.

A leading member of the Danish government bloc on Wednesday called Trump’s behavior “hopeless,” while a former prime minister said the decision was “deeply insulting” to Danes. The queen weighed in, noting through a spokeswoman that the U.S. president’s decision to snub her invitation in a tweet came as a surprise.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said later that an invitation to Trump for a state visit still stands. The cancellation was a matter for regret, she told reporters in Copenhagen. “I was looking forward to his visit.”

Their discussions were to have focused on the strategic importance of Greenland. It’s where the U.S. has its northernmost base, Thule, and the island’s location close to the natural resources in the Arctic has made it attractive to both Russia and China. Frederiksen’s predecessor, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said the debacle will require “enormous” work to repair trans-Atlantic relations.

The cancellation of the trip is a “diplomatic crisis,” said Kristian Jensen, a leading member of the opposition and a former finance minister. He hinted at the damage done to the post-World War II relationship with Denmark, which was among a handful of countries to follow the U.S. into the Iraq war.

Frederiksen had previously called the idea of buying Greenland absurd and said she hoped it was a joke. She made clear the island wasn’t for sale and that Denmark doesn’t have the authority to sell it in any case. Trump saved his response for Twitter.

“Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump said in a Twitter post on Tuesday night.

Trump still plans to travel to Poland from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 for commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II. The U.S. leader has praised that nation for meeting a target for defense spending by NATO member nations and added 1,000 U.S. troops on the ground there. He also has touted a possible new military base for U.S. forces, known as “Fort Trump.”

Morten Ostergaard, the leader of the Social Liberals who form part of the government bloc, tweeted that “reality has surpassed fantasy. It cannot be that no one in the U.S. state department told Trump in advance” that buying Greenland isn’t an option. “This is pretty hopeless. And it shows why we more than ever need to regard the EU members as our closest allies. You cannot count on this man.”

Here’s what former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt had to say:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who used to be NATO secretary general and is another former Danish PM, also weighed in:

Martin Lidegaard, a member of the government bloc and a former foreign minister, called the affair a “diplomatic farce.”

Trump wrote that “the Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”

Earlier this week, the president told reporters that buying Greenland would be “a large real estate deal” that could ease a financial burden on Denmark.

Frederiksen and other officials ruled out a sale.

“Greenland isn’t for sale, Greenland isn’t Danish, Greenland is Greenlandic,” Frederiksen said Sunday during a visit to the island, according to the local newspaper Sermitsiaq. “I keep trying to hope that this isn’t something that was seriously meant.”

However serious White House discussions of a sale might have been, the topic prompted jokes on both sides of the Atlantic after Trump’s interest was reported. He got into the act Monday night with a tweet showing an image of a golden Trump tower on an austere Greenland landscape. “I promise not to do this to Greenland,” Trump wrote.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark expresses surprise at U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of his planned visit to her country. Experts on the royal house call the move an act of "disrespect" as illness is not the apparent cause.