The poster is by Danish graphic artist and illustrator Henry Thelander (1902–1986) and was created in 1972 for the Danish Tourist Board. The 1972 date is significant: that was the year Margrethe II became Queen of Denmark, succeeding her father Frederik IX. She appears prominently at the upper left and lower right, while the rest of the composition traces the Danish monarchy backward through roughly a millennium.

The French text essentially says:

“Once upon a time in Denmark, a thousand years ago, there was a sovereign named Gorm the Old. Since that time his family has continued to rule the country, the oldest kingdom in the world. Queen Margrethe II is a descendant of old Gorm.”

Thelander surrounds that statement with wonderfully quirky caricatures of Danish monarchs—from Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth through Canute the Great, the Valdemars, Christian IV, the Frederiks and Christians, and finally Margrethe II. Interestingly, Denmark's Royal House still traces the monarchy's history back more than 1,000 years to Gorm the Old; today the line on its official royal chronology runs through Margrethe II's reign, 1972–2024, and Frederik X beginning in 2024.

Thelander was a Danish illustrator and graphic designer whose work has that wonderful mid-century European advertising quality—clean typography combined with humorous, highly individualized character illustration. This poster is particularly fun because it's almost an illustrated royal family tree masquerading as a tourism advertisement.

Dimensions: 24.5” x 38.5” - Approx 1300-1500pcs