In a statement released in the weeks following the exercise, the palace offered royal watchers an insight into how intense the heir’s exercise would be. Consisting of two parts, each lasting two days, the training exercise sees the young troops undergo guard duties at short notice, followed by problem solving under ‘difficult conditions’. Those conditions include just two hours of sleep per day and only 24 hours worth of rations for the four-day exercise. The platoon are expected to trek 50 kilometres in 36 hours, carrying 30kg of ammunition and weapons across land and water. Crown Prince Christian, as the second-in-command of his troops, had to cover 65 kilometres and participate in extra patrols and reconnaissance.
The heir to the throne seemed in high spirits as he clambered through the Danish forests, his face covered in camouflaged paint. ‘I don’t really know where we are, but it’s really beautiful,’ he said, awed despite the sleep deprivation and scant food supply – the ‘hardest part of the training’, he admitted. Unperturbed, he acknowledged that, while the end was in sight, there was still plenty left to achieve: ‘I expect us to be under pressure in some areas and a little more challenged in others,’ he said. ‘But we know we can still do it.’
