Crown Prince Frederik: What do we know about Denmark’s next king?

Danes were in for a surprise on New Year’s Eve when Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication.

The world’s only current queen and Europe’s longest-reigning monarch will step down from office on January 14, 52 years since she took office.

“I hand over the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederick,” she announced on live television.

But what do we know about the soon-to-be King of Denmark?

In the early 1990s, Crown Prince Frederik was known as something of a party prince in Denmark, but perceptions began to change after he graduated with a master’s degree in political science from Aarhus University in 1995. He was the first Danish royal to complete a university education.

During his studies, he attended Harvard University in the United States, where he enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen.

He then served in the Danish Navy, where he was given the nickname “Pingo”. According to the Mail, the name came from a scuba diving course in which the swimsuit filled with water and the swimmer had to waddle like a penguin.

The 55-year-old made a name for himself as a daredevil in 2000 when he took part in a four-month skiing expedition across Greenland. He has also been hospitalized due to sledding and scooter accidents.

“I don’t want to confine myself to a fortress. I want to be myself, a human being,” he once said, and insisted he would continue to do so after ascending the throne.

Prince Frederick, like Britain’s King Charles III, is known for his passion for the environment. He vowed to “lead the ship into the future” of Denmark.

His Australian-born wife, Princess Mary, grew up on the island of Tasmania and was working as a lawyer when they met in a Sydney bar in 2000 during the Olympics.

She once said in an interview that she didn’t know he was the Prince of Denmark when they met, adding, “Half an hour later, someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?’ “I said,” he said.

They are considered by some to represent modern values, and try to give their four children – a daughter, son and twins – as normal an education as possible, primarily in state schools. I am sending them to

Contrary to British royal tradition, there will be no formal coronation ceremony for Prince Frederick. Instead, his arrival will be announced from Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on the same day.

He becomes King of Denmark, a constitutional monarchy, and Head of State of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Queen Margrethe II is the world’s only living queen and the longest-reigning living monarch in Europe, having ascended the throne in 1972 following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.

The 83-year-old revealed she made the decision after much consideration following back surgery in early 2023.

“After the surgery, I naturally started thinking about the future. Is it time to hand over responsibility to the next generation?” she says.

“We decided that now is the right time,” she added, thanking the Danish people for their support over the years.