Inside the colorful life of ‘Queen of the Ashtray’ Margrethe: The chain-smoking, hot dog-eating 6ft Tolkien-loving ‘fashion icon’ monarch cried at her cousin Elizabeth II’s funeral

An imposing six-foot-tall chain-smoker with a penchant for brightly colored raincoats and a notable sideline in the arts, she is one of the most admired and flamboyant of European monarchs. .

But two days ago, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced her decision to abdicate in a New Year’s Eve speech, shocking royal watchers in her country and around the world. Her son, Crown Prince Frederick, will become king from January 14, ending her 52-year reign.

Rumors swirled yesterday among her six million subjects about what caused the 83-year-old to act in such a way, as she once claimed. [abdicating]. Unless you become hopelessly ill. ”

After more than half a century on the throne, Margrethe became the longest-serving ruler of Denmark’s 1,200-year reign. She is the country’s 54th sovereign (though she is only its second queen), and her heritage dates back more than 1,000 years to King Gorm. With the passing of her late queen, she also became the world’s longest-reigning monarch.

So why would a ruler like Elizabeth II, who swore an oath of duty above all else, abdicate now?

The Danish royal family’s approval rating has reached nearly 80 percent, and Queen Margrethe was once seen in an unconfirmed photo of herself holding a carton of apple juice and apparently eating a hot dog while smoking a cigarette, and is credited with being the driving force behind its success. It is said to be widely loved. .

Nicknamed the “Queen of the Ashtray” for her love of strong, unfiltered “super-slim” Karelian cigarettes, she will temporarily step down from royal duties in early 2023 after undergoing “extensive” back surgery. I stepped back.

It was this procedure (which reportedly put an end to the 60-a-day routine) that the Queen mentioned in her New Year’s speech. “Her surgery naturally led me to think about the future. Is it time to hand over responsibility to the next generation?” she told her subjects.

But commentators yesterday speculated that there may be another motivating factor. The idea was to give her son the status he was entitled to sooner than expected and to strengthen his marriage.

Frederick met Mary Donaldson, the daughter of a Scottish academic advertising executive, in a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympics. It was the beginning of a fairytale romance that led to marriage four years later.

Nineteen years later, the couple have four children together, and Crown Princess Mary is beloved in her adopted homeland – especially since she quickly became fluent in the language and is extremely stylish. This is because he was proud of his wardrobe.

However, recently a Spanish tabloid published a photo in November of Frederic leaving Madrid’s upscale Corral de la Morería restaurant with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova, confirming the couple’s marriage. Lifestyles began to come under scrutiny. The 47-year-old reality TV star was previously married to Spanish aristocrat Cayetano Martinez, whom she divorced in 2007.

Rumors of an alleged affair caused a stir in the Danish media. (Mr. Genoveva was quick to dismiss the speculation.) Meanwhile, since then, the royal couple has ostentatiously joined hands in Christmas Eve services and surprised onlookers at New Year’s dinners. and presented a united front. announcement. Mary wore a gorgeous maroon velvet dress and a glittering tiara.

But rumors can cause anxiety, so some are questioning the timing of Queen Margrethe’s decision and drawing their own conclusions. So will her accession to the throne ease fears that something is rotten in the Danish royal family’s marriage situation?

Mary, the first Australian-born queen, is undoubtedly popular, but she too follows a questionable trajectory. For decades, Queen Margrethe has deftly upheld her traditions while carving her own unique path as a modern-day monarch.

She was born in April 1940, one week after the Nazi occupation of Denmark, the eldest of three daughters of the current King Frederick IX. However, in 1953, the Danish constitution was changed to allow women to inherit the throne, making Margrethe the next in line.

As a child, she spent a year at a British boarding school in Hampshire, studied archeology at Girton College, Cambridge, and attended the London School of Economics.

She was finally crowned at the age of 32 following the death of her father in 1972. Five years earlier, she had married French diplomat Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, who became Prince Henrik. Due to his short temper, he was once called “the grumpiest royal in the world.” In 2017, he announced that he did not want to be buried next to his wife, as he had never been given the title of king or queen (he died six months later).

Crown Prince Frederik was born in 1968, and Prince Joachim arrived a year later.

“Denmark is more important to me than anything else,” Margrethe once said. “I don’t think I ever entertained the idea that I would put my marriage above the throne.”

But the five-lingual queen has never shied away from pursuing her own passions. In fact, how many monarchs can claim to have illustrated her best-selling work? In 1977, she sent her own ideas as a fan mail to author J.R. Tolkien, who created the Danish version of The Lord. I helped produce “Of the Ring.”

Initially, she used the pseudonym Ingahild Glasmer, but eventually stopped doing so. “Everyone knows who you are, so you better be who you are,” she said.

Her paintings (mainly watercolors and acrylics) have been exhibited in museums, and she is also a veteran costume designer, having worked on several ballet productions. What are her recent achievements? She is the costume and production designer for the Netflix feature film Ehrengard: The Art Of Seduction.

In his 80s, he designed 51 costumes and created 81 pieces of decoupage (a type of cut-and-paste artwork).

And of course, there’s her passion for fashion. The more lively the better. “I always dream in color. In full force. Technicolor. Everywhere. Every shade,” she told a biographer in 1989.

Her infamous floral raincoat, worn to celebrate her 70th birthday in 2007, is a vivid display of her glamor. At her own request, it was made of wax fabric for her tablecloth and purchased at her London department store, Peter Jones.

The fashion bible “Vogue” praised her as “an unknown style heroine.”

Famously outspoken, she warned her countrymen about growing hostility toward asylum seekers in a New Year’s Eve speech.

At Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral in September 2022, she wept as she saw the coffin draped in the royal flag, enjoying the deep bond she felt with the late queen.

As great-granddaughters of Queen Victoria, they not only called each other by their respective nicknames “Daisy” and “Lilibet,” but they were also cousins.

The respect Margrethe had for Elizabeth was clearly evident during her 2022 Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Margrethe revealed: “When I was a kid, my mom and dad said to me, ‘Look at what they’re doing in England,’ and I knew it could be done. .and you can live a fulfilling life [as Queen]Even if you have a hectic schedule or a demanding job. ”

Not afraid to make big decisions, she announced in September 2022 that she would take away the titles of prince and princess from her second son Joachim’s four children from January 2023, in order to secure the future of a slimmed-down monarchy. It was announced that it would be revoked.

Both Joachim and his wife Princess Marie were disappointed. But Margrethe was adamant that it was in his family’s best interests.

Now, with an even more shocking announcement this week, it appears she has decided it is in her family’s best interests to hand over the reins to the next generation. Only the outgoing Queen herself will know whether the actions of her eldest son, once known as the “party prince,” have anything to do with it.