The Danish Royal Title Drama, Explained
Why Queen Margrethe II said half her grandchildren will no longer be called prince or princess — and what it could mean for the Windsors.
Welcome to So Many Thoughts, a semi-weekly newsletter about royal style and the other parts of life I want to think through with you. You can subscribe here and follow me on Instagram at @EHolmes. Thank you!
The Danish Royal Family made headlines around the world this week with the news that four of Queen Margrethe II’s eight grandchildren would no longer carry their prince and princess titles. The family didn’t take it quietly, issuing several candid statements to the press. “It’s never fun to see your children being mistreated like that,” Prince Joachim told Ekstra Blade, a Danish newspaper.
Below I have compiled an explainer on what has happened, with a look at the family, what members will have their titles removed in a few months, and why (both the stated reason and the evolving theories). I did my best to answer as many of your questions from Instagram as possible! Also, scroll down for more on the considerable speculation over what this could mean for King Charles III and the TBD titles of Harry and Meghan’s children.
For more, check out my newsletter on the Danish Royal Family and particularly Crown Princess Mary.
First things first: Tell us about the Danish Royal Family
The Danish Royal Family is led by 82-year-old Margrethe II, Queen of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is made up of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. She took to the throne in 1972 at the age of 31; this year she celebrated half a century of reigning with her Golden Jubilee. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Margrethe is the last remaining queen in Europe.
Margrethe has two sons and eight grandchildren.
Crown Prince Frederik married Mary Donaldson, now Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, in 2004. Together they have four children: Christian (age 16), Isabella (15), and twins Vincent and Princess Josephine (11).
Prince Joachim has two sons, Nikolai (age 23) and Felix (20), with his first wife, Alexandra Manley. The couple divorced in 2005 after a decade of marriage; she carries the title of Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. Joachim also has two children, Henrik (13) and Athena (10), with his current wife, Marie Cavallier. They married in 2008 and she carries the title of Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat.
The Danish Royal Family seen in 2010; Frederik and Mary are on the left with two of their children, Joachim and Marie are on the right, with three of his children. Queen Margrethe and Prince Consort Henrik are at center. (Photo by Julien Hekimian/WireImage via Getty Images)
The family is known for being super relatable, right?
Extremely. Before we get into the title news, it feels important to underscore that the Danish royal family positions itself as very much among the people. Here’s a description from the official website of Denmark:
“Today’s Danish monarchy doesn’t spend a lot of time on pomp or circumstance. The children of the Royal Family attend ordinary public schools, and the adult members of the family are often seen shopping, dining, or riding their bicycles in public just like any other Dane.”
“Daisy,” as the queen is known, is widely beloved among her subjects, enjoying an approval rating upwards of 80%. Margrethe is also quite the character. According to the Daily Express, she was once spotted walking out of a European grocery store “sipping on a juicebox, carrying a hotdog with a cigarette in her other hand.” The BBC describes her as “an accomplished artist and a heavy smoker.”
Has there been title drama within the Danish Royal Family before?
Quite famously. Margrethe’s husband was a Frenchman named Henri, Count of Laborde de Monpezat. After their marriage, he was known as Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark — but he wanted to be King Consort, not Prince Consort. He also wanted to be referred to as “Your Majesty.”
Margrethe firmly denied those requests. Her husband held a grudge his whole life, deciding in 2017 that when he died he would not be buried next to her.
“For the prince, the decision not to buried beside the Queen is the natural consequence of not having been treated equally to his spouse – by not having the title and role he has desired,” the palace communications chief said at the time. Henrik was cremated when he passed away in 2018, with half of his ashes buried in a private garden and the other half scattered over Danish waters.
Ok, so what’s the deal with the title change this week?
The Queen said in a statement this week that as of January 1, 2023, four of her eight grandchildren — the four belonging to her second son, Prince Joachim — would no longer carry the title of prince or princess. Instead, they will be known with the titles they were bestowed in April 2008: Counts and Countess of Monpezat (those come from Joachim’s father).
Furthermore, they will no longer be known as His or Her Highness; after the new year, they will be styled as His or Her Excellency. So instead of being called “His Highness Prince Nikolai of Denmark, Count of Monpezat,” Nikolai will be known as “His Excellency Count Nikolai of Monpezat.”
However all four of the grandchildren will maintain their place in the line of succession (currently they are seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth).
Prince Joachim and his family in Denmark last month to celebrate the Queen’s 50 years on the throne. As of Jan. 1, the grandchildren — from left: Felix, Athena, Henrik, and Nikolai — will no longer be called prince or princess. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)
What about the Queen’s four other grandchildren? Do they have their titles?
Yes, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary’s four children will remain princes and princesses. Only the eldest and direct heir, Christian, will receive an annuity from the state as an adult; that decision was announced back in May 2016.
Did the Queen say why she wanted this change?
Margrethe said this was to give her four grandchildren a chance “to shape their own lives.” From the official statement:
“With her decision, Her Majesty The Queen wishes to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.”
…How did the family members stripped of their titles take it?
Not well.
“We are all very sad,” Prince Joachim told Ekstra Blade, a Danish newspaper. “It’s never fun to see your children being mistreated like that. They themselves find themselves in a situation they do not understand.”
The 53-year-old prince, who lives in Paris with his family, initially said he was given only five days’ notice. When pressed by the reporter, he clarified that he had been told of a plan back in May — but that this change would happen when his children turned 25. Asked how it would affect his relationship with his mother, Joachim said: “I don’t think I need to elaborate here.”
The eldest impacted grandchild, 23-year-old Prince Nikolai, also reacted publicly, saying: “We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone. I don’t understand why it had to happen this way.”
Countess Alexandra, Nikolai’s mother and Joachim’s first wife, expressed her disappointment through a spokesperson to Danish magazine Se og Hør: “We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock. This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.”
Princess Marie and Prince Joachim attend a gala dinner at Christiansborg Palace in 2015 for Queen Margrethe’s 75th birthday. (Photo via Schneider-Press/i-Images/Polaris)
Has anyone else weighed in?
Crown Princess Mary, wife of Frederik and mother of the Queen’s grandchildren who will retain their prince and princess titles, spoke in favor of the move on Friday.
“I can understand that it is a difficult decision to make and a very difficult decision to receive,” she said, according to Hello magazine. “Change can be difficult and can really hurt. But this does not mean that the decision is not the right one.”
Mary also hinted that this could be a possible path for her youngest three children, adding: “We will also look at our children’s titles when the time comes. Today we do not know what the royal house will look like in Christian’s time, or when Christian’s time begins to approach.”
Why would the Queen take these titles away so quickly?
To be sure, although Joachim said this happened fast, Margrethe did not characterize this decision as a quick one. “It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time,” the monarch told royal reporters after the title news was announced. “I think it will be good for them in their future.”
Why do they give out these titles in the first place?
Here’s the thing about royal families: They tend to grow. And as they grow, people get moved down the line of succession. As Gert’s Royals pointed out on Twitter, when Nikolai was born in 1999, he was Queen Margrethe’s first grandchild and third in line to the throne. Crown Prince Frederik had not yet met his wife, nor had he produced an heir. You can see why Nikolai would be made a prince back then! But now Nikolai is one of eight grandchildren and seventh in line; his cousin, Christian, is second.
And then the question becomes: What are the responsibilities and the obligations of the family members further down the line? And how can they make a living? Which leads me to this next query…
Aside from the actual titles, what are the tangible benefits to holding them?
CNN, based on an interview with Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra, described the “rebrand is purely a formality, as Joachim’s children do not receive any money from the public purse.”
Von Wildenrath Løvgreen told the American cable news network: “It’s just their loss of identity and it’s very hard for little children and young men. As Prince Nikolai said to me, ‘What will they write in my passport now?’” She also dismissed the idea that they will have a more “normal” life without a title, saying, “If they do something very stupid it will always come back on the family.” (FWIW I think that is a really important point. The association remains.)
So why are they sad about losing the title?
Even if these four grandchildren do not receive public funds, there is undoubtedly a financial aspect to titles. There aren’t many princes or princesses in the world and I would imagine that there is power — and with it, professional currency — in holding that title.
Take Nikolai, the eldest grandchild, who works as a professional male model. He has walked the runway for Dior and been featured, among other places, on the covers of Vogue Scandinavia and Vogue Czechoslovakia. Not to take anything away from his talents, but I would imagine he is more in demand because he is a prince? At the very least, I would imagine he could command higher rates?
Because it certainly is a selling point for brands. When Nikolai opened the Dior show in 2018, the American Vogue headline read “Royalty Took Over the Runway.” The accompanying piece called Dior securing Nikolai’s debut “the biggest casting coup of them all.”
I think it is worth noting how Nikolai — who expressed such distress over the title news — was described in his Vogue Scandinavia cover earlier this year. “Prince Nikolai of Denmark is currently studying a semester abroad in Paris, where his classmates ‘don’t know and don’t care’ about his title,” the magazine’s Instagram caption read, saying that the prince described it as “relaxing and soothing in a way. I can be even more myself.”
Why do Joachim and his family live abroad?
In 2019, Prince Joachim and his French-born wife, Princess Marie, announced that they would move to Paris with their two children, Henry and Athena. (Nikolai is studying there at present; Felix stayed in Denmark.) The move was prompted by an invitation Joachim received to participate in France’s highest-ranking military training course. Hello magazine declared: “What an exciting move!”
But, in an interview with Se og Hør a year later, Marie painted a different picture. The Danish magazine asked the couple why they chose “a new path in life,” to which Marie responded: “It is not always us who decide. I think that’s important to know.” (H/t @RoyalFashionPolice on Instagram.)
Shortly after the interview, Joachim was hospitalized suddenly for a blood clot in his brain, according to a statement issued by the palace, but did “not suffer physical or other consequences but as a result of the blood clot.” The royal family’s Instagram account posted a photograph of Frederik visiting his brother in France. “Prince Joachim is still recovering well, but still needs peace around him,” the caption read.
Do Joachim and Marie want to live in France?
It’s unclear. Joachim is now a defence attaché at the Danish Embassy and last fall Marie was designated as a “special cultural representative for Denmark in the cultural department of the embassy.” In an interview published in Danish newspaper Berlingske in January, Prince Joachim said:
“Most of us, no matter what our fate will be, can do more or less what we want in our part of the world. We do not have to do as our parents did. It creates a freedom of movement in our lives. Nevertheless, if you are from a royal family, your life is a little more structured. Now I have a new dimension in my royal work, I have been sent on a mission here to France. My mission here in Paris extends over three years, when it is over there is something new waiting behind the horizon that I do not know yet.”
Have any other European countries done something similar with the titles?
Yes. The statement from Margrethe points to “similar adjustments that other royal houses have made in various ways in recent years.”
The recent one that received considerable press was from the Swedish Royal Family. Back in 2019, King Carl XVI Gustaf said the children of his youngest two children, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine, would no longer be members of the royal house. However — in what feels like a big difference here — he allowed his grandchildren to retain their titles of prince or princess. “But the titles became personal and any future spouses or children will not have a right to them,” according to People magazine.
The king explained his motivation in his 2019 Christmas address:
“Earlier this year I made a decision to define what is called the royal house. The decision was to make clear who within the royal family will act as official representatives of Sweden in the future. For me, this is a way of clarifying what expectations are. It will hopefully be helpful when my grandchildren eventually carve out their own future. But, to that day, it is far away.”
Princess Madeleine seemed to welcome the move at the time, writing on Instagram: “This change has been planned for a long time. Chris (her husband) and I think it’s good that our children now have a greater opportunity to shape their own lives as individuals in the future.”
Before we talk about what this means for the Windsors, tell us how close are the Danish royals and the British royals?
Queens Margrethe II and Elizabeth II were third cousins, having both descended from Queen Victoria. They were also said to be close friends, according to People magazine. Following Elizabeth’s death on Sept. 8, Margrethe scaled back some events of her Golden Jubilee events and canceled others slated for just a few days later.
Queen Margrethe also sent a letter to King Charles III that read: “Your mother was very important to me and my family. She was a towering figure among the European monarchs and a great inspiration to us all. We shall miss her terribly.”
Queens Elizabeth and Margrethe, seen here in 2014 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, were said to be close. (Photo via Jean Bernard Vernier/JBV News/Polaris)
So…what could the Danish title news mean for the British Royal Family?
Lots of folks are wondering whether Margrethe’s move opens the door for King Charles III to make a similar call with Archie and Lilibet. The current guidelines, which make possible prince and princess titles, are based on Letters Patent issued by King George V (Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather) in 1917. It states:
“The grandchildren of the sons of any such sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of these our realms.”
However, People magazine reported on Sept. 21 that “behind the scenes, there have been arguments over titles for Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.” A palace spokesperson said at the time “that nothing would be decided or said about the issue while the family was in mourning.” That period ended this week and the children are still listed in the British Line of Succession as “Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor” and “Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.” (The website has been updated to reflect other title changes.)
There is precedent here, however, which is important to remember. Prince Edward, the late Queen’s youngest son, has two children with his wife, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. Neither of his children holds the title of prince or princess. Rather, they are styled as Lady Louise Windsor (age 18) and James, Viscount Severn (14).
But mostly: Queen Margrethe’s title decision seems, to me, like a continuation of a trend we have been seeing. Monarches all over Europe are getting “slimmed down” or “streamlined” — which is to say, smaller — with fewer family members running around with these titles. Broadly speaking, that makes sense to me, as the idea of a monarchy in a modern world is increasingly called into question. The bigger the family, the more chances there are to object to its existence.
However, removing the title of a member does not remove the association; they are a family, after all. And those people are held to a certain standard based on public expectations of a royal family, title or not. Furthermore, they did not choose to be born into a royal family (even if it comes with immense privileges). Is it realistic to think they can “shape their own lives,” as Margrethe said?
The real sticking point here seems to be the *removal* of titles. It is one thing to say no more future titles, as the Swedish Royal Family did, and allow everyone to keep the title they have. It is another to take existing titles away.
I am quite torn! What do YOU think about Queen Margrethe removing the royal titles? And how the family responded publicly? Hit “Join the Discussion” at the bottom of this email and leave a comment on my Bulletin page. You can also send me an email at Hello@SoManyThoughts.com.
Like what you’re reading? Please forward to a friend! You can subscribe to the So Many Thoughts newsletter here, follow the fun on Instagram at @EHolmes, and find my New York Times bestseller, HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style, wherever you buy your books.