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He has been known as Denmark’s crown prince since he was three years old and will leave Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace on Sunday as Frederick X, ruler of Europe’s oldest monarchy.
The Danish royal transition was triggered just a few weeks ago by Queen Margrethe II’s bombshell announcement on New Year’s Eve that she intended to abdicate in early 2024. Danes across the country were shocked when their mother, the world’s only living queen, decided to abdicate the throne.
Margrethe became Europe’s longest-reigning monarch when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022. The two were known to be close, and it was widely believed that Denmark’s head of state, like her distant cousin, considered her role in her life.
However, the 83-year-old appears to have had a change of heart and will abdicate exactly 52 years after ascending the throne. So who will soon be the King of Denmark and what kind of monarch will he be?
Hasse Nielsen
Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik will succeed his mother, Queen Margrethe II, when she officially steps down as monarch on Sunday.
Denmark’s monarchy dates back more than 1,000 years, but today the role of the royal family is limited under Denmark’s constitution. Danes are very proud of their royal family, with the monarch serving as an important ambassador.
“He is very popular. Opinion polls show very convincing support from the Danish public,” Birgitte Volp, culture editor of Danish newspaper Berlingske, told CNN. “Queen Margrethe is serving the monarchy on a silver platter.”
Volpp said Frederick would be a “different kind of king”, explaining that Frederick is “very down-to-earth and interested in sports, whereas his mother is more cultured”. She added: “His main challenge may be his use of language.” Because he is “not good at freestyle in front of a crowd.”
Frederic André Henrik Christian, born in 1968, is Margrethe’s first child with her late husband Prince Henrik, who passed away in 2018. His name was chosen in accordance with the Danish royal custom of giving the heir apparent either Frederick or Christian. His only sibling, Prince Joachim, was born in 1969.
Growing up in the public eye wasn’t easy for the shy young royal. He received his primary education at Krebs Skole, an elite private school in Copenhagen, and then attended a boarding school in Normandy, France. Frédéric was uncomfortable with the media attention and worried about his fate. By the early 1990s, many considered him a “party prince” with a penchant for fast cars.
Jorgen Jessen/Litzau Scanpics/AFP/Getty Images
Prince Frederick began his military education in 1986 with the Queen’s Lifeguard Regiment.
His time at Aarhus University helped restore his reputation, and in 1995 he became the first Danish royal to earn a master’s degree. His political science studies took him to Harvard University where he studied for one year, where he enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen, named after his father.
Fluent in French, English and German, Frédéric served as a diplomat for several months in 1994 at Denmark’s mission to the United Nations while in the United States. He then went to Paris for a year as first secretary of the Danish embassy. In 1998.
Frederick has also undergone extensive military training in all three branches of the Danish military, and in particular completed training in the Navy’s elite Frogman Corps, where he earned the nickname “Pingo” (“Penguin”). I was there.
In addition to being a decorated military man, he has shown himself to be an avid and highly capable sportsman. Over the years, he has competed in multiple marathons including Copenhagen, Paris and New York, and in 2013 he became the first royal to compete in an Ironman, finishing in a time of 10 hours, 45 minutes and 32 seconds.
He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2009 to 2021, and in 2000 participated in a four-month dog sledding expedition that traversed 2,795 kilometers (1,737 miles) across northern Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark.
Frederick gained national popularity through his Royal Run efforts. The sport’s challenge, which he started in 2018 to commemorate his 50th birthday, has since become one of the largest running events in the country, attended by more than 80,000 people each year. became.
Ida Marie Odgaard/Litzau Scanpics/AFP/Getty Images
The avid sportsman waved after crossing the finish line during the annual Royal Run in Copenhagen last May.
Meanwhile, like Britain’s King Charles III, the 55-year-old has become a passionate environmentalist.Since Copenhagen hosted COP15 climate change talks In 2009, we were keen to highlight the dangers of climate change and promote Denmark’s role in a greener future.
Experts on the Danish royal family say that although Frederick is popular with the public, he will face challenges after ascending the throne, meaning he will become king and head of state of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. There is.
“Crown Prince Frederik is a much more informal figure than his mother,” said historian Lars Hofbacke Sørensen. “If the monarchy wants to maintain widespread support in the future, it needs to appeal more to non-sporting Danes by showing interest in other issues.”
Similarly, Danish royal author Trine Willeman told CNN: “Frederick will have to prove first and foremost that he is capable of more than just sports.”
The former royal correspondent and author of the unauthorized biography of the family, 1015 Copenhagen K, explained: No matter how popular he is, he needs to overcome it because the doubts will not go away. ”
Frederick forgot his bachelor days when he met Australian sales executive Mary Elizabeth Donaldson. The pair met in a raucous Sydney pub in 2000, when the prince was in Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics. As the story goes, Mary didn’t realize that night that she was fascinated by real-life royalty.
Four years later, the couple wed in a lavish ceremony at Copenhagen Cathedral in front of the King, Queen and guests of honor, as well as millions of people around the world.
Ian Waldie/Getty Images
After their wedding in 2004, Frederick and Mary appeared on the balcony of the Palace of Christian VII. The couple were also attended by the Queen and her late husband Prince Henrik, as well as the Crown Prince’s father John Donaldson and his wife Susan Moody.
The couple currently have four children: Christian (18), who will become Denmark’s new crown prince upon his father’s accession to the throne, Isabella (16), and twins Vincent and Josephine (13).The couple has tried to give their children a more informal education than Frederick did. By sending them to regular state schools.
Queen Margrethe expressed her admiration for her daughter-in-law in an interview with CNN ahead of the 2012 Ruby Jubilee, marking 40 years on the Danish throne. We have a really good relationship and a warm relationship. ”
And ordinary Danes have embraced Mary, praising her poise and commitment to social causes.
Willeman describes Mary as “the power behind Frederick” and describes her transition from commoner to beloved royal as “remarkable and impressive.”
Royal experts point to some of the future Queen’s long-standing priorities, including work in the mental health sector and tackling bullying and isolation through her foundation. She explained: “I would venture to say that Mary has chosen her cause in a way that leverages the royal platform and spreads her awareness, and she has led the way of others like the Princess of Wales.”
According to Volp, Mary will become “the royal family’s greatest asset” in the coming years.
“She wasn’t born into royalty, but you think she is. She behaves with great grace and is a great representative of the Danish people,” she said. “She is known for always being well-prepared and has taken on some pretty important tasks, such as shedding light on domestic violence.
“When Mary and Frederick met in Australia, there was often a story about how she was lucky to have met a fairy-tale prince. I think it shows that he was even luckier as time went on. ”