Royal rule Queen Mary’s daughter refuses to follow
The new Queen Mary and King Frederik’s youngest daughter Josephine put on quite a display during the historic accession.
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There’s one in every family; the one person who cheerily ruins composed, perfect Kodak moments; the one relative who is superlative at scene-stealing, accidentally or otherwise.
In the UK this role is being superbly filled by rapscallion five-year-old Prince Louis, a kid who has gotten more big crowd experience in his very short life than most touring stadium bands. Louis was the unquestionable star of his later great-grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and he topped that with his exuberant 2023 Trooping the Colour display. Vroom vroom.
The news today out of Denmark is that he might have some competition in the off-piste, off-script, uninhibited young royal department, with one very clear star emerging from the accession of King Frederik X to throne, along with Australian-born Queen Mary.
Unlike the Brits, in Copenhagen in the early hours of Monday morning AEDT there were no crowns, no golden bits and bobs and sadly no hauling out of arcane props to symbolise the divine right of monarchs.
Instead, outgoing Queen Margrethe signed some paperwork, got up and simply left the new King and her grandson, now Crown Prince Christian, to do some sombre sitting around of a big table with the Council of State. (She, I’m assuming, was off to enjoy a lengthy foot bath and a well-earned peach schnapps.)
The elevation of Frederik was a moment lacking in any of the pageantry that we have come to expect from royalty, no theatrics, no pipers and no making the airforce do some showy bits of co-ordinated flying. Really it looked more like a council zoning meeting than a continuation of a thousand years of history.
But, there was one clear star with the Prince Louis Award for Going Rogue firmly won by Frederik and Mary’s daughter Princess Josephine, who celebrated her 13th birthday along with twin brother Prince Vincent last week. (The Kongheus, that is the Danish Royal House, marked the occasion by putting out a new photo of the teens, a shot that looks suspiciously like it was done in Photoshop and harvested from an official photo taken last year for Crown Prince Christian’s 18th birthday.)
The photo of Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine of Denmark was taken after the balcony appearance for Prince Christian's 18th Birthday in October. Along with the other set of official photos.
— Gert's Royals (@Gertsroyals) January 8, 2024
📷 Dennis Stenhild/Kongehuset pic.twitter.com/TuCFEpd6aV
On the two occasions that the family appeared before the estimated 100,000 Danes braving the freezing temperatures to see them and then later making the journey back home, it was Josephine who put on something of a show.
For their first balcony outing, Josephine appeared with her newly enthroned father’s arm around her waist, and started off, like the rest of her family doing some waving. Then she proceeded to seemingly briefly give up on waving, peering curiously down at the massive crowd, before getting back into the swing of things and adopting the energetic two-arm wave. At one point she joined the masses below, estimated to be 100,000 people, in a chant for the new King, to the obvious delight of her father.
The balcony moment at Amalienborg.
— ChristinZ (@ChristinsQueens) January 14, 2024
🎥 DR1 pic.twitter.com/YmvmXE8bgJ
It was all pretty charming stuff and consider one’s cockles thoroughly warmed by the sweet, effusive moment.
Then came the family’s second balcony turn, this time with Josephine emerging at Mary’s side, with the young princess at times seeming to lose enthusiasm for waving, at other times chatting to her twin brother.
Later, as Frederik and Mary made the journey back to their Amalienborg Palace home via golden carriage, their kids were chauffeur driven in a Rolls-Royce. Again, it was the younger princess who beamed out the window at the waiting throng and seemed to be having a right old good time of it.
In contrast to Christian, Isabella and Vincent, who all largely stayed on script, Josephine’s spontaneous, unbridled turn has shown through. Unlike the rest of her generally composed, neatly comported family, Josephine put on much more of a demonstrative, less restrained appearance.
Thank god.
It is so incredibly refreshing to see a girl raised in the captivity of royalty to feel comfortable being herself.
Because royalty – membership of some medieval house from birth and all the bells and whistles and enforced photo calls that come with that – can seem to knock the stuffing and the personality out of people, a process that starts in childhood.
Already Princess Charlotte of Wales, when she appears in public for moments like Trooping the Colour or the royal family’s post-Christmas Day service walkabout, the eight-year-old comes off as being acutely conscious of being on display and therefore on her best behaviour. Even in a little girl so young it feels like there’s a wariness, a restraint, the encumbering weight of responsibility.
Here’s desperately hoping that the coming years of the reign of King Frederik won’t incidentally dampen Josephine’s spirit or see her bright light dimmed by now being the daughter of the actual monarch.
So far Queen Mary has managed to do the near impossible – to raise what might be the world’s first fully free-range princess.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Originally published as Royal rule Queen Mary’s daughter refuses to follow
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