Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication in her New Year’s address on Sunday, December 31, 2023, at Christian IX Palace, Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen.
Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix (via AP)
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Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix (via AP)
Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication in her New Year’s address on Sunday, December 31, 2023, at Christian IX Palace, Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen.
Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix (via AP)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced Sunday her plans to step down from the throne to make way for her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
In her New Year’s speech, the Queen announced that she would abdicate on January 14, the 52nd anniversary of her accession to the throne at the age of 31 following the death of her father, King Frederick IX.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen paid tribute to the 83-year-old monarch, saying: “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Her Majesty the Queen for her lifelong dedication and tireless work for the Kingdom.”
Frederiksen’s statement said Margrethe was “the epitome of Denmark” and “has given us language and emotion for many years as a people and as a nation.”
Margrethe, a 6-foot-tall chain-smoker, is one of the most popular public figures in Denmark, where the role of monarch is largely ceremonial. She often walked the streets of Copenhagen virtually unescorted, and her warm demeanor and her talents as a linguist and designer attracted the admiration of the Danes.
An avid skier, she participated in judo classes and snow endurance tests as a member of the Danish Women’s Air Force as a princess. Margrethe remained tough even as she grew older. In 2011, at age 70, she wore a military jumpsuit to visit Danish troops in southern Afghanistan.
As monarch, she criss-crossed the country, regularly visiting Greenland and the Faroe Islands, two semi-independent territories that are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and was met with cheering crowds everywhere.
Denmark is home to Europe’s oldest monarchy, tracing its lineage back to the Viking King Gorm the Elder, who died in 958. Although Magrethe is the head of state, the Danish constitution strictly prohibits her involvement in party politics.
However, the Queen was clearly well versed in the law and knew the contents of the bill she was asked to sign.
She was educated in French and English from an early age, as well as Swedish by her mother. In addition to her archeology, she studied philosophy, politics, and economics at the universities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Cambridge, the London School of Economics, and the Sorbonne University in Paris.
Frederic Andre Henrik Christian has been the heir to the Danish throne since his birth on May 26, 1968.
He is the eldest son of Queen Margrethe and her French-born husband Prince Henrik, who died in February 2018. Frederick, 55, has a younger brother, Prince Joachim.
Since the age of 18, he has served as regent when his mother is abroad, shaking hands with thousands of people and entertaining foreign dignitaries.
“In the new year, Crown Prince Frederik will be proclaimed King and Crown Princess Mary will become Queen. The kingdom will have a new Regent and a new King and Queen. We know that they are ready. , we look forward to all these “responsibilities and tasks”, the Prime Minister said in a statement.