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As tradition dictates, an exchange of orders took place on the first day of the visit.
At the castle in Riga, the King received the Grand Cross of the Viesturs Order. Latvia's highest military order.
The Queen received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Three Stars, which is Latvia's highest order.
Various other Danish and Latvian decorations were exchanged between representatives for the two
countries.
The King received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Three Stars as Crown Prince in 1997, and Guntis Ulmanis - president 1993-1999 - was made Knight of the Order of the Elephant.
Guntis Ulmanis is
related to Karlis Ulmanis (1877-1942), who was the first leader of the independent Latvia from 1918 onwards; he was president 1934-1940 when the Soviet Union occupied the country. Ulmanis was deported
to Russia and later to Central Asia, where he died.
The Order of the Three Stars was instituted in 1924. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia ended, the order was re-instituted in 1994. The Order of Viesturs was instituted in 1938 and re-established
in 2004.
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