Mary, Aussie jewel in Denmark’s crown

Australia can claim its first queen of Denmark, and the Danes, for only the second time in 1000 years, will celebrate a new king as a result of a rare abdication.

Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik will be crowned early on Monday morning (AEDT) Picture: Per Morten Abrahamsen

The early hours of Monday will be the happiest of times.

Australia can claim its first queen of Denmark, and the Danes, for only the second time in 1000 years will celebrate a new king, not through the sorrowful death of a monarch but as a result of a rare abdication.

The much-loved Queen Margrethe II, a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, gives up the throne on the 52nd anniversary of her crowning, which will officially happen around 1am Monday, Australian time.

Only King Eric III Lamb relinquished the Danish throne – for health reasons – nearly nine centuries ago in 1146.

Margrethe’s eldest son, Prince Frederik, 55, will be proclaimed King Frederik X and his wife, Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson, will after 20 years of marriage, become queen.

But unlike other descendants of Queen Victoria, their Windsor-Mountbatten cousins in the United Kingdom, there will be rather less pomp at the Danish event.

This won’t be a two-hour cathedral event filled with ancient meaning and mythology, soaring hymns and world leaders, but instead a single signature on a piece of paper, a balcony proclamation and then a gun salute.

“There is not so much to see, it is not as spectacular as King Charles III in London: those guys have more to show off then we do,’’ says Danish royal correspondent Trine Larsen. “There will be just a little carriage ride back (from Christiansborg Palace) to Amalienborg Palace.’’

Nonetheless, Margrethe’s shock abdication, announced on TV in her annual New Year’s Eve address, has meant a frenzied fortnight of preparation and eager anticipation among the Danes, who haven’t known a different monarch for over half a century.

There was no time for souvenir sellers to order commemorative mugs, and local councils have scrambled to gather bunting and flags to dress their towns.

Longstanding Copenhagen ice cream maker La Glace has already sold out of its Frederik concoction: marzipan, hazelnut praline, salted caramel and caramel truffle, coated with dark chocolate and decorated with the Frederik X seal.

The Danish head of state changeover is quite perfunctory and there hasn’t been a Middle Ages-type anointing of a monarch in Denmark since 1849, when the country introduced a constitution with a popularly elected assembly.

There will be a Council of State meeting at Christiansborg Palace at 2pm local time Sunday (midnight in Sydney) with Frederik, Mary and heir Christian arriving in state cars. An hour later on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will proclaim King Frederik X.

Frederik will make a short speech, and finish with a stirring oration of the vision he wants for his monarchy, followed by a gun salute of three rounds of 27 shots.

The new king and queen will leave the palace not in a car, but in a centuries-old black mahogany coach through the streets of the Danish capital, waving to hundreds of thousands of people braving temperatures hovering at 0C.

Margrethe, who will slide to third behind Frederik and Crown Prince Christian, will take the car this time. However, she still intends to have her own court and remain living in her usual palace.

“Having two courts won’t bother the Danish people,’’ says royal commentator Kim Bach.

“Margrethe is so popular she can do whatever she likes.’’

When King Frederik and Queen Mary return to their home at Frederik VIII’s palace, which was extensively remodelled around the time of their marriage in 2004, the royal banner will flutter above for the first time. Their top adviser, Christian Shonau, now becomes the highest serving official as chief court marshal and it will be Frederik who signs new parliamentary laws into effect.

Monday morning local time the royal couple will attend parliament, followed by a reception.

Margrethe told Frederik and her second son, Prince Joachim, of her decision to stand down as queen – reversing a repeated insistence she would never abdicate – only at the end of their Christmas gathering on December 28. The new king had just three days’ notice before the rest of the world knew of his new position.

Historian Mie Ellekilde told Berlingske newspaper she was “shaken” that Frederik had so little notice. “It’s a bombshell that they were informed so late,” she says, fuelling speculation Margrethe may have decided to step down only over the festive period because of ongoing health issues, or that she wanted her plans to be watertight.

However, similar to the British spectacular, Margrethe has also found herself in the midst of a succession drama.

Charles’s elaborate coronation at Westminster Cathedral was attended by heir Prince William and a reluctant second son, Prince Harry, whose wife, Meghan, stayed home in California for her son’s fourth birthday.

On Sunday, Joachim’s wife, Princess Marie, will remain at her American home with her children – apparently still upset about Margrethe’s surprise decision in 2022 to strip their children of prince and princess titles. Joachim’s two eldest boys, the sons of his first wife, have not been invited.

Historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen told Ekstra Bladet: “If you want to be a bit rude, then you can say that Joachim and Marie have chosen the minimal solution for the celebration. It can look like ‘we know very well that our children are not princes and princesses, and they are not invited, and we still don’t think that’s right’.”

Mary, 51, has spent the past fortnight preparing her four children, Christian, 18, Isabella, 16, and 13-year-old twins Josephine and Vincent – and herself – for the big moment, but not all has gone to plan.

Her favourite Danish dressmaker, Jesper Hovring, has had shoulder surgery and is out of action. Her longtime hairdresser and stylist, Soren Hedgaard, announced he is ending his work with the new queen as of Monday.

Mary has had to decide which of the crown jewels she will now possess to wear: a brilliant diamond set, the emeralds, a pearl-ruby set or a set with rose stones.

Mary’s eldest sister, Jane Stephens, will attend the coronation but other siblings John and Patricia have not been confirmed. Father John and stepmother Susan will watch the event on television.

The royal houses of Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands and Britain also appear to be not attending.

The mood in Copenhagen is both festive and apprehensive. Frederik is popular, but not as warm as Margrethe, and royal observers express nervous optimism about the future of the monarchy, insisting he “has to step up”.

After a rocky time in November when Frederik was pictured with 47-year-old Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova in Spain, the Danish public will insist on much higher standards from him as king.

“In Denmark we don’t appreciate a king having affairs outside of marriage,’’ Larsen says. “He has to approach the new job in a different way than how his mother did it, he knows he has to step up, he has very big shoes to fill.

“Frederik is popular but his likeable traits – jumping up and down at concerts, singing along with musicians he likes – are not the best qualities when he is king. He has to be king for the whole country … find connections with everybody, and that will be his biggest challenge.’’

Travelling on the Copenhagen metro on Thursday, local Sophie Larsen insists: “Mary is much more popular than Frederik because she hasn’t put a foot wrong the whole time. I can’t recall anything she has done that isn’t perfect. I wish she was the one with the power and not Frederik.”

Husband Jens agrees, but they briefly disagree about whether Frederik was cheating on Mary with the assignation in Spain that has dominated the tabloids, before both decide “he was stupid”.

At the Radhuspladsen in the centre of the capital, teenagers Khoi, 16, and Ethan, 15, sit on the “tall bench”, which highlights fears of rising water levels in Denmark, and prepare for a day of chilling and drinking on Sunday to mark the new king and queen.

“We aren’t old enough to buy the alcohol but there isn’t an age where you are not allowed to drink,’’ Khoi says. “The queen has been our queen for so long, but maybe it is good to try someone else … it is a bit frightening because … she is the one we grew up with.”

Their thoughts on Mary? “I can’t see anything wrong with her. There hasn’t been a big mistake where you go ‘ooh, that was not good’.”

At a nearby souvenir shop, Chinese student Yitain is interested in the Little Mermaid figurine but also notices the magnets of Frederik and Mary. “Maybe I should get these to celebrate the coronation,’’ she says. Sales of Fred and Mary items – nearly all with images from quite some years ago – have been brisk, says the souvenir employee, with a noticeable increase in the numbers of tourists in the past few days.