On Saturday, Egeskov Castle in Denmark hosted the wedding that Danish columnists are already calling the event of the year. Men in white tie, women in long gowns, the protocol buttoned to the last fastening. And the photograph that circulated most was not of the newlyweds.

It was of the man who stopped being a prince three years ago.

Nikolai, the eldest son of Prince Joachim, appeared in white tie with a red-and-white sash across his chest and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog. That is not jewellery you buy. It is a decoration awarded by the king - and Frederik X gave it to him personally, in May, at a private ceremony at Amalienborg. Together with his brother Felix. Right after the two had lost their princely titles.

The queen took the title, the king handed over the medal

The decision was made by Margrethe II: Prince Joachim's sons went from princes to counts. The official explanation was that this would let them live more freely, without the obligations the court carries, and build careers outside the protocol. An explanation that sounds generous if you do not read it twice.

Nikolai said at the time what is rarely said in palace statements: "Both my life and the role I have had until now have changed. A decision was made about me, and that naturally is not pleasant." Not a protest. But not gratitude either.

He later added the other half: "Like everything in life, I try to take something from the circumstances and see them positively. Now I am finding my own path, with the role and the situation I have." The sentence of a man who has learned that in a royal family decisions are announced, not negotiated.

What was actually visible on that sash

Here is the part worth looking at longer. The grandmother took the title. The cousin - the new king - awarded the medal. The same family, within the same system, takes your status with one hand and hands you back a symbol with the other. Is that a mark of respect, or a way of making the break look softer in photographs?

Nikolai came to the wedding with his girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup. She has a master's in economics and business administration specialising in sales management, works in business and does modelling. She lives largely outside the court schedule - exactly what the Amalienborg decision advertised as the upside.

At the same wedding, Queen Mary wore a discreet tiara from the royal collection, bought at auction in 2016 for 4,000 euros. Four thousand euros. Sometimes the smallest number in a story says the most about how carefully every detail is measured in a house like this.

The ceremony joined Gregers Carl Preben Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille, the king's godson, and Cecilie Juul. But the story people are left retelling is not theirs. It is the story of a man who walked into a palace he has formally been put out of, wearing a decoration that same palace gave him.