Ultimate fairytale ending with hearts of a nation conquered
The roar of the crowd boomed around the square and filtered down the streets of Copenhagen. Hans Christian Andersen couldn’t have scripted it better.
The roar of the crowd boomed around the open square outside of Christiansborg Palace and swept down the streets of Copenhagen as the new King and Queen of Denmark, Frederik X and Mary, emerged onto the parliamentary balcony early on Monday.
Here was the new royal couple, the first Australian-born queen, beaming and beautiful: offering a perfect wave, embraced by her husband and soon joined by her son, 18-year-old Christian, now the heir and new crown prince, and the rest of the family.
The emotional moment for the new king and queen was sealed with a kiss in front of the enthusiastic crowd. Frederik clutched his hand to his chest at times to show his gratitude for the show of support from the Danish people. Mary held Frederick’s back, and then his hand tightly, as he fought back tears.
The Danish fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen couldn’t have scripted it better. Well, perhaps if it had snowed just a touch in the chilly wintry afternoon.
Her Majesty Queen Mary, as she is now known, looked ethereal in a simple, white, form-fitting dress with a jewelled belt.
About 45 minutes earlier Queen Margrethe II had signed the documents officially declaring her abdication after 52 years on the throne, witnessed by the Danish cabinet, the new king and the crown prince.
Margrethe then left in a car, while the royal couple enjoyed a toast with a small gathering of witnesses, including one of Mary’s sisters, Jane, and Frederik’s younger brother Prince Joachim.
Joachim’s wife Princess Marie stayed in Washington DC; family divisions linger after Margrethe’s decision in 2022 to concentrate on the core hereditary line and strip Joachim and Marie’s children of prince and princess titles. But what’s a little family disagreement among royals?
When the king came on to the balcony, the prime minister, Mette Fredericksen, a Social Democrat who has become a fierce royalist, proclaimed the new King Frederik to the world and to the gathered throng below.
Frederik, 55, and his wife of 20 years, Mary, had arrived at the palace from their centuries-old residence at Amalienborg Palace in a state car. They left in the 19th century royal carriage made of black mahogany, decorated in red silk velvet with gold embroidery and tassels. The carriage was pulled by a magnificent team of grey horses.
An estimated 100,000 Danes came out into the freezing weather to see the new king and queen. The balcony kiss, urged by the crowd, initiated by Frederik and catching Mary a little unprepared, made the appearance all the more special, and perhaps marked a line through the couple’s personal upheaval of late.
The carriage ride was a rare expression of pomp in the brief event that marked the transfer of royal power in Denmark. Despite the low-key ceremony, there was still ancient symbolism. At Amalienborg, the royal flag was taken down from Queen Margrethe’s residence and erected outside the new king and queen’s residence, the palace known as Frederik VIII’s, in the same hexagonal forecourt.
The Danes, with one of the oldest monarchal lines in the world – the Glücksborg line reaches back to Gorm the Old and Queen Thyra in the mid 900s – have alternated between naming royal heirs either Frederik or Christian for the past 510 years.
King Christian X, Frederik X’s great-grandfather, was monarch during the two world wars and was close to the public during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, riding his horse each day through Copenhagen’s streets in a show of defiance.
If there was any doubt about whether Danish reverence for its monarchy remained intact, the joy and excitement of families, young people and the elderly lining the route on Monday aligned with decades of polls showing support for the Danish royal family exceeding 85 per cent.
