Copenhagen  - US President Barack Obama's whirlwind visit to Copenhagen continued Friday with a meeting with Danish Queen Margrethe and Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Before meeting the queen, the president and US First Lady Michelle Obama addressed delegates of the International Olympic Committee as part of their hometown Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Games.

After their speeches, the presidential motorcade left for Christiansborg Palace where Queen Margrethe and her husband, Prince Henrik, received them.

The president's tight schedule included a brief meeting with Rasmussen, who said he hoped Obama "would return very soon" - a reference to the UN Climate Conference in December in Copenhagen.

In his brief remarks, Obama replied that climate change was "pressing" and "something we are keenly interested in."

The president also thanked the royals and Danish people for their hospitality.

On arrival at the palace, the two heads of state passed a guard of honour from the Royal Danish Life Guard, wearing their traditional bearskin hats, posted in the palace hallway.

Rasmussen earlier met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who along with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are part of the campaign for Madrid's 2016 bid.

Danish police said some 40 protesters, mainly from Greenpeace, were detained after trying to unfurl banners urging President Obama to come to Copenhagen in December to push for a global deal capping greenhouse gas emissions.

A dozen activists were detained after trying to climb a church tower near the Christiansborg Palace.

Rasmussen was later to meet with Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan, two other key countries in the global climate debate. (dpa)