Britain's Queen Elizabeth is "very important" to Denmark's Queen Margrethe.

The Danish monarch is celebrating her 40th year on the throne in the same year Elizabeth marks her 60th, and she admits the British royal has always served as an inspiration to her.

She said: "It's a very strange coincidence that our jubilees are in the same year. I really want to congratulate her and her nation for her fantastic years of service.

"Queen Elizabeth has always been somebody I've admire and I also happen to know her very well - fairly well, anyway.

"I felt that very much the day when I was proclaimed; that I must somehow or other dedicate my life to my nation like she has done. In that way, she is very important to me."

However the 71-year-old monarch admits she struggled with the size of her job when she first came to power in 1972.

She said: "I trembled with nerves during audiences at the beginning. But through my father I had a strong impression of what was required, in full knowledge of the fact that I was different to him."