• Monarch – Christian IX^[1]
• Prime minister – Tage Reedtz-Thott (until 23 May), Hugo Egmont Hørring

• 29 May – St. Luke's Church in Frederiksberg is consecrated as the first new church to be built to relieve the pressure on Frederiksberg Church in the fast-growing Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen.^[2]
• 11 June — 1897 Gentofte train crash
• 7 August — Cabinet of Hørring is formed by Hugo Egmont Hørring of the conservative party Højre after Tage Reedtz-Thott's resignation as Council President,

Undated edit

• 12 June – Aarhus Fremad is founded.
• 30 July – 2 August – Edwin Schraeder wins a gold medal in men's sprint at the amateur event of the 1897 ICA Track Cycling World Championships.

January–March edit

• February – Erling Foss, engineer, businessman (died 1982)

April–June edit

• 19 May – Wiwen Nilsson, silversmith (died 1974 in Sweden)

July–September edit

• 29 August – Helge Rosvaenge, singer (died 1972)

October–December edit

• 29 October – Sigurd Langberg, actor (died 1954)
• 9 November – Arthur Jensen, actor (died 1981)
• 31 December – Liva Weel, actress (died 1952)

• 11 February – Christen Dalsgaard, painter (born 1824)
• 30 April – Carsten Henrichsen, painter (born 1824)
• 20 June – Johannes Steenstrup, natural scientist (born 1813)
• 30 September – Peter Nielsen, botanist (born 1829)