Danish Pope visit

May 12, 2006, 16:07 GMT

Denmark's Queen Margrethe II will meet with Pope Benedict XVI later this month (05.06)

The royal visit will concur with the opening of an exhibition, featuring Danish golden paintings, in Rome.

This will be the second time the Queen meets with a head of Vatican.

In 1997 Margrethe and Denmark's Prince Henrik met Pope John Paul II during a state visit to Italy.

Meanwhile, Denmark's Prince Henrik recently outraged animal rights activists by declaring he likes eating dog meat.

The French-born royal, who is the honorary president of the Danish Dachshund Club, told Ud&Se magazine his penchant for dog meat started when he lived in Vietnam for a while.

The prince - whose admission shocked the Danish nation - said the meat tasted best when it was cut into slices and then sautéed or grilled.

He even invited his fellow Danes to try the unorthodox delicacy themselves.

He said: 'I do not mind eating dog meat at all. The dogs I eat have been bred to be eaten anyway, just like chickens.

'It tastes like rabbit, like dry venison, or like veal - just drier.'

Henrik, who owns several dachshunds himself, had a poetry book published last year - in which he praises dogs.

A poem to his beloved pet dog Evita compares her paws to 'wings'.

It said: 'I love to stroke your coat and to see how it shines/ You dear, you special dog..../ You receive me with papal pride.'

Henrik, who learnt Danish and changed his name, religion and nationality to marry Queen Margrethe II in 1967, has previously sparked fury in the country when he suggested parents should use methods of dog training to bring up their children.

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International