By Rob Harris
London: Denmark’s queen has unexpectedly announced that she plans to abdicate within weeks, paving the way for her eldest son, Frederik, to become king.
Queen Margrethe II said during her traditional New Year’s Eve speech that she would formally step down on January 14 – 52 years to the day of her ascension to the throne in 1972.
Danish Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik and Queen Margrethe.Credit: AP
Crown Prince Frederik, who married Australian-born Princess Mary almost 20 years ago, will succeed his mother, becoming King Frederik X. Mary will take the title of queen.
Unlike British royal tradition, there will be no formal crowning ceremony for 55-year-old Frederik. Instead, his ascension will be announced from Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen on the day.
The 83-year-old queen, who became the longest-sitting monarch in Denmark’s history in July, has been in poor health and underwent “extensive” back surgery at the start of 2023, which forced her to miss King Charles’ coronation in May.
“The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said during the annual speech live on Danish television, which is viewed by many in the country of 5.9 million people.
“I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024, 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father, I will step down as queen of Denmark,” she said. “I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.”
Margrethe, the eldest child of Denmark’s former monarch King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, succeeded her father following his death on January 14, 1972. She is the world’s only current queen regnant and, following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, the world’s longest currently serving female monarch.
Margrethe has faced a row within the family, having stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles.
In Denmark, formal power resides with the elected parliament and its government. The monarch is expected to stay above partisan politics, representing the nation with traditional duties ranging from state visits to national day celebrations.
Queen Margrethe II announces her abdication during a New Year’s Eve speech from Christian IX’s Palace, Amalienborg Castle, in Copenhagen.Credit: AP
She ascended the throne on January 14, 1972, after the death of her father. But, although she was his eldest child, she did not become heir presumptive until 1953, when Denmark’s Constitution was amended to allow women to inherit the throne.
That followed a referendum in which more than 85 per cent of participants voted to allow female succession.
Born in 1940, a week after Nazi Germany invaded Denmark, Margrethe has throughout her life enjoyed broad support from Danes, who are fond of her tactful, yet creative personality.
As well as regularly doing her own shopping, she had a flourishing career as an illustrator and designer and, until 2015, defied convention by lighting cigarettes in public.
She enjoyed a close relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, her third cousin, both descendants of Queen Victoria. They bonded during several state visits to each other’s countries through the decades.
She also studied in the UK, spending time at Cambridge’s Girton College and the London School of Economics.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked the queen for her lifelong dedication to duty.
“It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne,” Frederiksen said in a statement, adding that many Danes had never known another monarch.
Mary, 51, and Frederik, 55, were seen stepping out alongside their children Prince Christian, 18, Princess Isabella, 16, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, both 12, before attending Marselisborg Palace with Margrethe on Christmas Day.
Mary had only recently returned from a holiday in Australia amid fierce media scrutiny after the prince was, in October, accused of having an affair with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova, 47.
The socialite described the rumours as “malicious” while Mary has remained silent, with her and her husband adopting a “business as normal” attitude for public appearances.
Margrethe’s abdication is the latest in a series of European royal families passing power down the generations in recent years. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated in 2013 in favour of her son Willem-Alexander, while King Juan Carlos of Spain stepped down the following year amid scandal.
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