A guard of honor is formed at a bonfire which was lit to celebrate the birth of the first child t... Denmark celebrates royal b

In a tradition dating back to the Bronze Age, more than 200 bonfires were lit one by one on Saturday evening in a chain of light that illuminated the skies from Copenhagen to every corner of the small kingdom.

Earlier in the day, gun batteries in the capital and at Kronborg Castle in Helsingoer - site of Shakespeare's Hamlet - fired 21-shot salutes to herald the birth of the heir to the throne. Danish flags were hoisted on all government offices and public buildings, as people lined up at the royal palace in Copenhagen to hand over teddy bears, toys and flowers as gifts for the baby.

The baby was 51cm and weighed 3,5kg, the palace said. The royal couple has not announced his name, but it was likely to be Christian in line with Danish tradition. Since Christian II, who died in 1559, Danish kings have alternately carried the name Christian or Frederik.

"It is wonderful," Queen Margrethe, Frederik's mother, told Danish television after briefly visiting the hospital. She said she had not yet held her grandchild, but had waved to him.

Mary Donaldson, 33, who was born in Hobart, on the island of Tasmania, married Frederik in a lavish fairy tale wedding in May 2004 at Copenhagen's Lutheran Cathedral. The couple met in a bar during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Frederik, 37, is next in line to the throne.

Unlike some other European royal houses, the hugely popular Danish royal family has been relatively scandal-free. But Frederik's younger brother, Prince Joachim, divorced from his wife Princess Alexandra earlier this year in Denmark's first royal split in nearly 160 years.

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