Lthe last European queen, Margaret of Denmark, 83, leaves the throne on January 14. He would never have wanted her who, a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth, had always announced that she wanted to reign until the end of her days. But a back operation forced her to decide to abdicate. The crown will therefore pass to his son Frederik, 55 years old, married to the Australian Mary Donaldson who, in fact, will become the first Danish queen of Australian origin.
Her last public appearance was on the golden carriage that took her from Amalienborg Palace to Christiansborg Palace for the New Year celebrations. An image that will go down in history, the golden carriage in the snow. With Elizabeth II and Beatrice of Holland for years she had formed the trio of queens. Currently the sovereigns are all consort monarchs, from Letizia of Spain to Mathilde of Belgium, Maxima of Holland and Camilla of England.
Margaret of Denmark (Photo by Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images)
It is the end of female monarchies even if it is only a phase. Because we are moving towards the era of the five queens, new future sovereigns are studying and warming up their muscles: Leonor of Spain, Elizabeth of Belgium, Catherina Amalia of Holland, Ingrid of Norway and Victoria of Sweden.
Even if in the meantime the count of thrones sees seven kings, a grand duke and two princes with scepter and crown.
The story of Margaret of Denmark
Margaret of Denmark leaves the throne to Prince Frederik, therefore, after 52 years of reign. It was January 14, 1972 when she became queen upon the death of her father King Frederik IX. Having no male children and having to go the kingdom to the sovereign’s brotherthe Danish Parliament changed the law giving a modern touch to the monarchy.
He studied archeology at Cambridge and political science at the Sorbonne and London School of Economics. Art has always been his great passion together with painting, to costume design and set design.
Creative, cultured and eclectic
Margaret of Denmark (Photo by Antony Jones/Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)
Incognito, under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer, designed the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, while for Ehrengard, a Danish Netflix film directed by Bille August based on the novel by Karen Blixen, he created a scenography imagined by Margrethe herself.
His joyful and eclectic style is also unique. Flowers and colors are her great passion. One of her favorite jewels is a diamond brooch in the shape of a daisy given to her by her mother Ingrid as an important family heirloom.
Who are Frederik and Mary, the future Danish rulers in place of Margaret of Denmark
(Photo by IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
It seems that he is behind the abdication a gossip, a scandal that concerns Prince Frederik himself.
He was portrayed in the company of a Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova in Madrid, fueling doubts that the relationship with Mary is just a cosmetic union.
The two would spend the evening in the center of the Spanish capital, and then spend the night together in her apartment.
Charming, athletic and socially involved, he met his wife Mary Donaldson in a pub in Sydney, during the 2000 Olympics. She was a real estate agent. After a few years of long-distance relationship, the two married in 2004 and today have four children.
Born in 1968 to the then princess Margaret and her French husband Henri de Monpezat, Frederick became heir to the throne at the age of just 3 years old.
He studied at Harvard and other universities using the pseudonym “Frederik Henriksen”, avoiding as much as possible to mention his privileged position. «I’m not that famous here» he always commented.
They also called him the king of beers because, thanks to his incognito life, he was able to travel around undisturbed.
He completed training in all 3 branches of the Danish Army: Land Forces, Air Force and Navy, reaching the ranks of General in the first two cases and Admiral in the Danish Navy.
As an athlete he participated in the marathons of NNew York, Paris and Copenhagen: in the latter he completed the 42 kilometers of the competition in just over 3 hours. And he is obviously an expert in sailing.
Those strange gossip in Hamlet’s country
But if he would be seen with a Spanish socialite, it seems that his wife Mary has developed a liking for her cadet brother-in-law Joaqum.
In 2022, Queen Margaret withdrew the status of princes and royal highnesses from the children of her second son, Prince Joachim: it seems that the prince’s alleged ‘crush’ on his sister-in-law Mary was behind the decision.
The Daily Mail does not exclude that, following the sovereign’s abdication, there is an intention to stifle any airs of separation between the two new Danish sovereigns.
However, nothing suggests a crisis: the two appeared smiling and relaxed at the New Year’s Eve dinner at the palace.
Will King Charles also abdicate?
«King Charles could abdicate and leave the throne to his son William, as the Queen of Denmark did». She wrote it on Daily Mail venturing a hypothesis not confirmed by the facts and by any royal source.
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