(CN) - Denmark's King Frederik X began his official royal visit to Greenland on Tuesday, displaying the solid ties between the territory and his nation as President Donald Trump continues to talk about claiming the world's largest island for the U.S.

As part of his official program, King Frederik greeted Greenland's newly elected Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen in Copenhagen on Monday before their planned trip to Nuuk later that evening. However, bad weather in the Greenlandic capital pushed the king's arrival to Tuesday morning, causing him to cancel parts of his visit.

The king's schedule picks up as Nielsen's first official two-day visit to Denmark ends. On Sunday, Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen voiced a collaborative wish to "move closer together" in the Danish Commonwealth. They discussed renegotiating the self-government act, giving semiautonomous Greenland greater control over its own territory and policies and including more cooperation opportunities with the United States.

"We are ready for a strong partnership and more development. But we demand respect," said Nielsen. "We will never become a piece of property anyone can buy," he said, adding that the king's visit to Greenland is an "important signal" for the commonwealth to send abroad.

"It is limited, what the Danish king can be used for, but it is no coincidence that the trip takes place now, as the situation is calmer with Trump turning full attention to the tariff war," said Sebastian Olden-Jrgensen, lecturer of history at the University of Copenhagen and royal expert.

Jrgensen said that while King Frederik has no political authority, the royal house functions as a soft power in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. He said the royals can be most effective over the long term rather than in an immediate crisis.

"In this relatively peaceful moment, the king can be used to give Greenland some attention and strengthen the existing bonds the royal house has nursed for more than a century," he said, adding that if the king had not visited the strategic Arctic island at this time, he could have faced criticism.

"It's like with some relationships, you frequently must buy a bouquet of flowers," Jrgensen said.

In both the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which along with Denmark make up the Danish Commonwealth, there are greater tendencies to acknowledge the role of the royal house compared to the Danish government and its prime minister, according to Niels Wium Olesen, a historian at Aarhus University.

The king's visit will likely mirror Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's public display of synergy with her Greenlandic political colleagues, Olesen said.

"There is no doubt that Frederik will play the same role - show himself in Greenland, get some pictures taken, maybe in Greenlandic national attire with a good chunk of snow, walking as if he's at home and probably on a dog sled," Olesen said.

Polls show most Greenlanders want independence from Denmark in the future. The majority of parties participating in Greenland's latest parliamentary election expressed the desire for independence, but at different paces. Winner center-right party Demokraatit aims to develop a strong economic foundation before striving for full independence.

A topic that has yet to see a heated debate is whether to separate Greenland from the Danish royal house, which receives support and positive energy from common Greenlanders and politicians these years.

"To show unity seems to be the strongest card that can be played, because the American rhetoric so far has focused on what splits Denmark and Greenland," said Olesen, who coauthored an article on the Danish royal powers' political development after 1848.

Frederik became king in 2024 after his mother, Queen Margrethe, abdicated as the Nordic country's longest-serving monarch. Following his parents' many visits to Greenland since his first in 1975, the former crown prince eventually made his own visits. He took part in a 1,550-mile-long dog sled journey at "Expedition Sirius 2000," to mark the elite patrol's 50th anniversary.

His two youngest children were baptized with Greenlandic names, Prince Vincent Minik and Princess Josephine Ivalo. In 2024, Greenland's heraldic mark, a standing polar bear, got a bigger dedicated space on the Danish coat of arms redesigned under Frederik.

The king is scheduled to tour natural sights, drink coffee with locals, meet members of the new government, and visit Greenland's university. A dog sled trip with the elite Sirius patrol planned for Thursday was cancelled due to bad weather.

Source: Courthouse News Service