Lund University has established the award of Honorary Fellow, which is to be conferred on individuals who through outstanding contributions in public or individual activities have been of great significance for the University and society. The award was given for the first time in 2024, when Sweden’s former prime minister Ingvar Carlsson was appointed as Honorary Fellow. At the annual academic ceremony in January 2026, Lund University will confer the title of Honorary Fellow on Denmark’s former regent Queen Margrethe.
“HM Queen Margrethe represents artistic expression in close association with a deep engagement in our history and a highly tuned sensitivity to present-day needs. This harmonises well with the kind of university Lund University is and wants to be, which was the basis for the proposal,” says Vice-Chancellor Erik Renström.
The citation highlights Queen Margrethe’s commitment to science and art, and the historical close ties between Sweden and Denmark.
- Queen Margrethe has a personal commitment to science and art, and an extensive academic background with studies at several leading international universities. Among other things, Queen Margrethe studied archaeology at Cambridge, and when she was young took part in archaeological excavations with her maternal grandfather, the Swedish King Gustav VI Adolf. As a well-renowned artist with her own exhibitions, Queen Margrethe is a role model who unites a classical education in the humanities with artistic creation – values that Lund University regards as key for higher education and research. Queen Margrethe’s commitment is deemed to be particularly inspiring for today’s students across all faculties.
- The other reason is the historical and present-day connection between Denmark and Sweden, a connection that Queen Margrethe personifies to a great extent through her family connections and a common cultural history. Lund and Uppåkra were for a long period part of Denmark, and as early as 1425 the first seat of higher education in the Nordic countries was established in Lund. When Lund University was founded in 1666, one of the tasks was to strengthen ties with the new Swedish province – a historical link that is still prominent in the region’s identity today.
Queen Margrethe has for many years been much appreciated among Lund’s students, not least after the popular Student Evening in 2005 where Queen Margrethe with both humour and gravity talked about her artistic work – a combination that reflected well the Lund spirit.
“Another factor that carried a lot of weight has been the impression HM Queen Margrethe made on student life after taking part in the Student Evening and by illuminating how the Danish student unions found a refuge in Lund during the Second World War. We are again living in a time when consensus and cooperation between like-minded countries such as Denmark and Sweden play an important role for the future destiny of our countries,” says Erik Renström.
Read more about:Lund University’s annual academic ceremony 2026