Written by Jacob Gronholt Pedersen and Stein Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s newly proclaimed King Frederick received full support.
The parliamentary meeting to celebrate his accession to the throne was 55-year-old King Frederik’s first official engagement. The royal declaration was made by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Sunday in front of about 174,000 cheering people in the capital, which was at near freezing temperatures. temperature.
The king will succeed his mother, Queen Margrethe II, who formally abdicated after 52 years as monarch, making her the first Danish monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne in nearly 900 years. became.
Denmark has a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch as head of state must sign new laws before they come into force, but formal authority rests with the government and an elected parliament.
A new king and queen will take the throne amid overwhelming public support for the monarchy in this country of nearly 6 million people.
“Our wonderful royal family is doing so well that we may take the monarchy for granted. “And it is based on a mutual contract between monarchy and democracy,” Frederiksen said. In a speech to Congress on Monday.
In another speech on January 1, the prime minister said that although he had never supported the monarchy, he had declared himself a royalist because of Queen Margrethe’s work to unite Denmark.
Queen Margrethe’s popularity has grown even though she ruled during a period when Denmark’s welfare state, built on equality, grew to the standard of Scandinavian states.
For a century, Frederiksen’s Social Democratic Party has refused to accept decorations from the royal family, but after announcing his abdication on New Year’s Eve, he reversed course and now it is up to party members to decide whether to accept the medal.
“The role of the king in a modern democracy is itself a difficult balancing act. Added to this are the challenges facing Denmark and the world around us,” Frederiksen said. said. “We desperately need a king to unite Denmark.”
King Frederik addressed the crowd in a speech on Sunday, but did not address parliament on Monday.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Sharon Singleton)