Why the Queen of Denmark Is Abdicating
Everything we know, including about her son’s alleged affair...
Have you all been following the drama out of Denmark? The Danish Royal Family has made a lot of headlines in recent years but the most surprising — and consequential — news came on New Year’s Eve, when Queen Margrethe II announced her plans to abdicate on Jan. 14.
“Fifty-two years after succeeding my beloved father, I will step down as the queen of Denmark,” the 83-year-old monarch said in a live television address.
Did anyone else immediately think of The Crown? Those scenes in the final episode when the aging (fictionalized) Queen Elizabeth II contemplates abdicating, entertaining arguments both for and against from younger versions of herself?
Well, situation in Denmark is a lot more complicated, involving rumors of an alleged affair between Crown Prince Frederik and a Mexican socialite. Oof! This one is messy. Where in the fairytale does the adored queen surrender the throne so that her wayward son will stay married to his glamorous, beloved princess?
Ahead of the abdication Sunday, I put together a little primer for us all, looking at the spirited (soon-to-be former) queen, how an evening the crown prince spent in Madrid could be the reason Margrethe decided to step down, and why there won’t be a coronation.
PS: My earlier deep dive on Crown Princess Mary has more on the life and work of the woman often called Kate’s doppelgänger. I also covered the Danish Royal family’s title drama, which now seems like a bit of foreshadowing, no?
ICYMI!
👑 Still catching up on The Crown? You can find all of my coverage of the final season here, including my watch-with-me podcast.
💭 Looking for inspo for the new year? Scroll through the comments here to see what words people chose to guide them in 2024.
Why the Queen of Denmark Is Abdicating
Let’s dive in. What started all of this?
In a live New Year’s Eve broadcast, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced her plans to abdicate on Jan. 14, the same day the 83-year-old monarch will mark 52 years on the throne.
“I have decided now is the right time,” she declared, clad in vibrant purple, reading from a speech she held in her hands. An extensive back surgery the queen underwent last February, she said, “gave rise to thinking about the future — whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation.”
The news came as a shock. Tatler called it a “bombshell” while the Guardian quoted a Dane as saying, “All of Denmark is crying.”
Who will take Margrethe’s place?
Her eldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik, will become His Majesty King Frederik X. His wife, 51-year-old Crown Princess Mary, will become Her Majesty Queen Mary.
The couple’s eldest son, Christian, who turned 18 in October, will become the new Crown Prince. The titles of their three younger children, 16-year-old Princess Isabella and 12-year-old twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, will remain the same.
Tell us more about Queen Margrethe II.
She is fascinating! Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Denmark’s queen is now the longest-reigning monarch in Europe and — can you believe this? — the only remaining queen regnant in Europe. She was 31 years old when she took to the throne in 1972, the first female Danish Sovereign in nearly three centuries.
Margrethe married the French-born Henrik de Laborde de Monpezat in 1967; he died in 2018. (A slight detour but I find this rather revealing: Her husband famously wanted to be referred to as king consort rather than prince consort. After becoming queen, Margrethe could have created that title but she denied her husband’s requests; he held a grudge for decades.) The couple had two sons, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim, and eight grandchildren.
The queen, who only stopped heavily smoking last year, stands six feet tall and is affectionately called Daisy. She is an accomplished artist, designing costumes and sets for theater productions throughout her reign and staging exhibitions of her paintings. Margrethe is also an enthusiastic student, studying at Copenhagen University, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. She speaks five languages fluently: Danish, English, French, Swedish and German. The queen is tremendously popular in Denmark, enjoying favorable ratings upwards of 80%.
“It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne," Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a written statement following news of the abdication. “Queen Margrethe is the epitome of Denmark and throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation.”
Did Margrethe give any public indication that she would be abdicating?
No. To the contrary, she has always said otherwise. “I will stay on the throne until I drop,” Margrethe famously said.
The Danish queen was close with the late Elizabeth II, sharing the same steadfast commitment to duty (the two were also third cousins). “You are handed your job as the old king or queen dies,” Margrethe said in 2012, when she marked 40 years on the throne. “It is not a life sentence, but a life of service.”
In hindsight, Margrethe did seem to be taking care of family matters these last few years. She made headlines in the fall of 2022 by removing the prince and princess titles of four of her grandchildren, those belonging to her second son. They are now known as counts and countesses of Monpezat, titles passed from Margrethe’s late husband.
“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,” read the official statement.
Her son and his family were…not pleased. You can read all about that in my earlier SMT newsletter.
Did Margrethe tell anyone she was planning to step down?
Yes, but not until the eleventh hour. Frederik, the soon-to-be king, learned of the news on Dec. 28, just three days before her announcement, according to Danish newspaper Berlingske. Joachim and his family, who have since moved to Washington D.C., were home for the holidays. He was told at the same time as his older brother.
“Even the prime minister was unaware of the queen’s intentions until just before the announcement,” according to the Associated Press.
Isn’t abdicating more common in some European monarchies?
Yes. In the Netherlands, several queens have abdicated, most recently Queen Beatrix in 2013. Other have been propelled by personal developments. Belgium’s King Albert II also relinquished the throne in 2013, citing health reasons and facing a paternity case in court. Spain’s King Juan Carlos I stepped down amid a corruption scandal in 2014.
But the Danes tend to stay put. The last time a monarch in Denmark voluntarily abdicated was nearly nine centuries ago, with King Erik III Lam in 1146, according to the Associated Press.
So…why is Margrethe abdicating?
The official reason, cited in the queen’s New Year’s Eve speech, is that her extensive back surgery in February 2023 prompted a rethink of the future. Tatler suggested the queen wanted “to avoid a scenario similar to that inherited by the British royal family; preferring the heir to the throne to inherit Kingship with plenty of years ahead of him.”
Another possible influential milestone: Prince Christian, Frederik’s eldest son, turned 18 last year, which some saw as a fitting coming-of-age moment. (The photos from his party, with a host of young European royals, are very fun.)
But what about rumors of an affair?
The more complicated theory around the queen’s abdication involves an alleged relationship between Crown Prince Frederik and Genoveva Casanova, a Mexican socialite.