Danish Queen Mother lies in state

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Reuters) -- Denmark's Queen Mother Ingrid, who died on Tuesday aged 90, has been taken to the Christiansborg palace chapel in Copenhagen to lie in state until her burial next week.

Thousands of people carrying torches lined the streets of Fredensborg, 20 miles north of the capital, as the hearse carrying her coffin left Fredensborg castle chapel adjacent to the Queen Mother's home, where she died peacefully in her sleep.

Thousands more gathered outside the Christiansborg palace where she will remain until her funeral at Roskilde Cathedral 20 miles west of Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Ingrid, daughter of Swedish King Gustaf VI Adolf, is the first queen of Denmark to lie in state since 1796.

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Christiansborg chapel will be open from Saturday to Monday to allow the public to pay their last respects to the popular Queen Mother.

She was surrounded by her three daughters -- Queen Margrethe, Princess Benedikte and ex-Queen Anne-Marie of Greece -- as well as her 10 grandchildren, when she died.

Her death prompted hundreds of ordinary Danes to file past the royal palace and add flowers and candles to a makeshift memorial.

Close relatives declared a mourning period until December 4 and planned a private ceremony on Wednesday evening at Fredensborg Castle.

Across the nation of 5.3 million people, flags were lowered to half-mast on homes, public buildings and ships.

She will be buried next to King Frederik IX, her husband, who died in 1972.

The casket will be carried by a horse-drawn carriage through the capital on Tuesday, then it will be taken by train to the cathedral at Roskilde, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Copenhagen, the resting place of 38 Danish kings and queens.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria and Norway's King Harald are among the dignitaries who plan to attend the funeral.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Ingrid was the only daughter of Sweden's King Gustaf VI Adolf, a great-granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria and an aunt of King Carl.

She entered Europe's oldest royal house in 1935 when she married Denmark's future King Frederik. After his death, Ingrid stepped out of the limelight but remained active into old age and was patron to some 40 social welfare and aid organisations.

"She was a woman who cared a lot," said Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

"At official dinners, she would always ask me in private how my old mother was doing. Or how elderly people in our society were doing after hearing about a debate (in parliament) on the issue."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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