Following the unprecedented abdication of his mother Queen Margrethe, Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik will be sworn in as king on Sunday, with more than 100,000 Danes expected to flood the streets of Copenhagen for the historic event. has been done.
The 55-year-old future monarch is hugely popular in Denmark, with 82% of Danes saying they think he would make a good king in a recent poll.
“People think he’s one of them and they really like him,” Cecily Nielsen, royal correspondent for Danish public broadcaster DR, told AFP.
“He loves sports, he’s a kind person, and Danes don’t really care what’s written about him in the foreign media,” she said of the Mexican socialite’s reputation in the Spanish and British press. He said this, alluding to the recent affair reports. Any romantic relationship.
Queen Margrethe’s surprise abdication, announced in a televised speech on New Year’s Eve after 52 years on the throne, stunned the Danish public, who had repeatedly insisted that the queen would never abdicate.
“I never expected something like this to happen,” Jesper Volpius, 55, from Copenhagen, told AFP.
In this file photo, Prince Christian of Denmark stands between his parents, Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary, at Fredensborg Castle Church in Fredensborg, Denmark, on May 15, 2021. Queen Margrethe of Denmark announced in her New Year’s speech that she would abdicate in January. 14th, 2024. Crown Prince Frederick will replace her as her 10th King Frederick of Denmark. At the same time, Prince Christian becomes Crown Prince of Denmark.
Photo credit: AFP
Historian Beau Lidegaard said Margrethe’s decision showed she was a modern queen who could adapt to the times.
“She knows she is becoming physically weaker. Her son is ready and in a better position than her to take over the family business,” he said.
“This is a change that had to happen sooner or later, so it’s as good as doing it now without becoming a prisoner of tradition.”
-Unprecedented-
This is the second time a Danish monarch has abdicated, the last being Eric III in 1146, some nine centuries ago.
The Queen’s decision left the country of 5.9 million people stunned and wondering what would happen next.
“The tradition (of enthronement) as we know it is tied to the death of the monarch,” Nielsen said.
Danes widely support the queen’s decision, with many expressing relief that Sunday’s celebration of the new monarch does not mean the death of Margrethe.
According to opinion polls, more than 80 percent of Danes support her decision.
Margrethe will retain the title Queen and continue to represent the royal family from time to time.
Since her announcement, hotels in Copenhagen have been sold out, and train and domestic flight tickets to the capital have sold out.
Police expect large crowds to gather in the streets of Copenhagen on Sunday.
“We expect a very large number of people to come out,” Copenhagen police official Peter Dahl told AFP.
“It’s impossible to say how many people there are, but it’s probably more than 100,000,” he said, adding that police reinforcements had been requested from all over the country.
～There is a proclamation, but there is no coronation～
Exactly 52 years after she ascended the throne, Queen Margrethe will formally abdicate at the Council of State at 2pm (1300 GMT).
At 3pm, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will proclaim Frederick X as the new monarch on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, the seat of Denmark’s government and parliament.
King Frederick and his wife, Australian-born Queen Mary, will then travel in a horse-drawn carriage procession through the capital to their residence at Amalienborg Palace.
Apart from the abdication, this protocol is similar to previous successions to the throne in Denmark.
As in 1972, when Margrethe took the throne, no foreign dignitaries or members of the royal family have been invited to Sunday’s events, and there will be no coronation or succession of the new monarch.
Margrethe’s father, Frederick IX, to whom Crown Prince Frederick is often compared, was also a very popular king.
Royal correspondent Nielsen said “this day has a lot of symbolic meaning” as he “was a very important person to the Queen”.
Frederick has subtly honed himself in the style of his grandfather, and his wife Mary often wears royal jewelry that once belonged to his grandmother, Queen Ingrid.
Historian Lidegaard said, “Like other royals, she acts without regard for social tensions, so she will become a centripetal force (for Denmark), just like her mother.”
“Paradoxically, even though they are not citizens and distance themselves from political debate, they reflect Denmark,” he said.
The monarch is Denmark’s head of state, but his role is primarily ceremonial.
However, the sovereign signes laws, formally presides over the establishment of the government, and meets regularly with ministers.