Queen Margarethe of Denmark strips titles from four grandkids

While King Charles mulls what to do with the kids of Harry and Meghan, Queen Margarethe has ripped titles from four of her grandchildren.

Queen Margrethe’s announcement has been attacked by her son, who said the “very sad” decision had hurt his children. Picture: Ida Marie Odgaard/Getty Images/The Times

Queen Margrethe of Denmark has been rebuked by her younger son for stripping his four children of their royal titles.

Prince Joachim said he had been caught unawares by the “very sad” announcement that his daughter and three sons would no longer be princes and princesses from the end of this year. Instead they will be formally known as counts and countesses of Monpezat, a title derived from the family of the queen’s late consort.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark with her son Prince Joachim, his wife Princess Marie and the grandchildren who will lose their titles, from left, Nikolai, Felix, Athena and Henrik. Picture: Patrick van Katwijk/getty images/The Times

Only the children of Crown Prince Frederik will be permitted to call themselves princes and princesses, as the royal house is trimmed down in line with other European monarchies.

The royal household said the queen, 82, wished “to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent” without being constrained by the “special considerations and duties” that come with official roles.

Joachim, 53, told Ekstra Bladet: “It’s never fun to see your children hurt in this kind of way.

They’re in a situation they do not understand themselves.”

Harry and Meghan’s children, Archie and Lilibet, may also lose their prince and princess titles. Picture: Alexi Lubomirski/The Times

He has two children – Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20 – by his first wife, Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, and two – Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10 – by his second, Princess Marie.

He denied claims he and his branch of the family had been consulted about the reform, saying he had been given only five days’ warning.

Asked how it had changed his relationship with his mother, he paused for seven seconds then said: “I don’t think I need to go into that here.”

Since the death of Elizabeth II, Margrethe is Europe’s longest-reigning living monarch. When she was crowned in 1972 only 45 per cent of Danes supported the monarchy.

British royal family members on the Buckingham Palace balcony in June this year as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations. Prince Harry, Meghan, and their children were excluded from the lineup because they are no longer senior working members of the royal family. Picture: AFP

The queen has since built up overwhelming public support through small gestures of solidarity with her subjects, such as shopping at Lidl, and through several modernising steps, including allowing her sons to marry commoners.

A poll published this year found that 77 per cent of voters wanted Denmark to remain a monarchy, while only 15 per cent favoured a republic with an elected head of state.

The Times