The royal Danish twins will be christened in Holmens kirke on April 14.
This is the church where Crown Prince Frederik was christened, where Queen Margrethe was christened and where Margrethe and Prince Henrik were married. Due to the fact that the family had ties to the church, it was also believed that Christian would be christened there, but the parents chose the Palace church at Christiansborg instead then.
It will be interesting to see which names they have chosen.
The Danish twin boys will not be baptised – they will be christened š The difference being that the royal family of Denmark are members of the Church of Denmark, which is an Evangelical Lutheran church, not a Baptist church.
From what little knowledge I have of it, actually one of the main differences between the two is that the Baptist church subscribe to believer’s baptism, rather than infant’s baptism – in other words, the ritual of baptism happens when the individual is of age and understands the signficance of the choice made, rather than being initiated into the belief system by proxy through parental decision.
I’m sure others know a lot more about this than I do, but here’s a few good places to start, if you’re interested š
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_National_Church
Both baptism and christening are correct English translations of the Danish word DĆ„b.
As a member of the Evangelical lutheran church myself I am well aware of its traditions regarding small infants. š