Its a historic week for the Danish royal household, as Queen Margrethe II will formally change into the primary monarch to abdicate the throne in 900 years.
On Jan. 14, Denmarks Crown Prince Frederik, 55, is ready to take the throne alongside his spouse, presently Crown Princess Mary, 51, whose appointment as the primary Australian-born Queen Consort can also be novel. Sundays succession wont see Frederik and Mary topped in an opulent coronation ceremony. As an alternative, the brand new king will take part in a carriage experience amid gun salute and balcony appearances.
Their succession was introduced by Queen Margrethe who mentioned throughout her New Years Eve handle that it was time to move on the duty to the following era.
“Fifty-two years after succeeding my beloved father, I’ll step down because the queen of Denmark. I’ll hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik,” Queen Margrethe mentioned throughout the broadcast.
The announcement got here as a shock to world observers, with Margethe presently holding the title of Europes longest-reigning monarch. She additionally mentioned as lately as 2016 that she would by no means abdicate the throne: “It is all the time been: you keep so long as you reside. That is what my father did and my predecessors. And the best way I see it too.”
Extra From TIME
This has left many questioning what modified her thoughts, with native media sources saying the Queen solely informed her sons that she was abdicating with three days discover forward of the announcement. However based on her New Years Eve handle, latest again surgical procedure led her to think about the long run and that of the Danish monarchy. In the meantime Frederikknown for being a celebration prince within the 1990swas going through picture points as the results of hypothesis over the safety of his marriage.
As Denmark prepares for succession day, heres what to know concerning the nations new King and Queen.
What to learn about Frederik
Frederik was born to Margrethe and her husband, French-born diplomat Prince Henrik, in 1968. He’s an older brother to Prince Joachim, who was born the 12 months after.
Frederik was recognized for rebelling in his youth, and was considered a celebration prince who loved automobiles within the early Nineties. “He was not strictly talking a insurgent, however as a baby and younger man, he was very uncomfortable with the media consideration and the data that he was going to be king,” Gitte Redder, an skilled on Denmarks royal household, informed AFP.
Frederik enrolled at Aarhus College and spent a while finding out at Harvard between 1992 and 1993 below the alias Frederik Henriksen, a reputation that nodded to his father who was known as Henri de Monpezat earlier than marriage. The prince graduated in 1995 and was the primary Danish royal to earn a college diploma.
He additionally served on the Danish U.N. mission in New York Metropolis in 1994, and later labored as First Secretary of Embassy on the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris between 1998 and 1999.
Frederik has skilled in all three branches of the Danish Armed Forces, starting within the 1986 within the Queen’s Life Guard regiment earlier than being appointed as a lieutenant of the reserve. He accomplished coaching with the Royal Danish Navy Frogman Corps in 1995 and continued to earn additional navy accolades over the following decade. In 2010, he turned a commander within the navy and colonel within the military and the air pressure.
He married Mary on Might 14, 2004, in a marriage ceremony in Copenhagen Cathedral adopted by a reception at Fredensborg Palace. The couple has 4 kids: Prince Christian Valdemar Henri Jean, Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, and twins Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander and HRH Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda.
In recent times, Frederik and Mary have constructed a popularity for main on sustainability and environmental points, in addition to public well being and womens rights.
In addition they host a well-liked annual working occasion entitled Royal Run, the place 1000’s of Danes run via Copenhagen and different close by areas. Frederik has accomplished six marathons and undertaken a fourth dogsled exhibition in northern Greenland.
What to learn about Mary
Mary Elizabeth Donaldson was born in 1972 to Scottish educational John Dalgliesh and the late Henrietta Donaldson in Hobart, Tasmania. She is the youngest of 4 kids.
Mary studied Commerce and Legislation on the College of Tasmania, the place she gained a Bachelors diploma in 1994. She met Frederik at a pub in 2000, throughout the Sydney Olympics, the place she was reportedly unaware of his title and standing as he launched himself as Fred.
The couple entered an extended distance relationship earlier than going public in 2001. The next 12 months Mary moved to Denmark the place she turned fluent in Danish and transformed to the Lutheran Church.
The couple turned engaged in October 2003, marrying in Might 2004 in a excessive profile marriage ceremony. Marys Scottish heritage was closely integrated into marriage ceremony festivities, along with her official coat of arms together with the heraldic symbols of Scotland and the MacDonald clan. Marys father additionally wore a kilt to the marriage, the place he walked her down the aisle.
The couple had their first little one, Christian, in 2005, who will inherit the title Crown Prince and change into Frederiks inheritor obvious upon his ascension to the throne. The couple had Isabella in 2007, and their twins Vincent and Josephine in 2011.
What’s the controversy surrounding the royal couple?
Queen Margrethe introduced she was abdicating within the wake of rumors relating to Prince Frederiks constancy. Reviews alleged that the prince was romantically concerned with Mexican-born socialite Geneveva Casanova after they had been photographed on a personal journey in Madrid. Casanova has denied any romantic relationship with Frederik.
This has led observers of the royal household to think about that Margrethe’s actions could also be a manner of placing such rumors to mattress, permitting the royal couple to deal with their new duties.
“Its doable that the Queen took this motion as a result of she would have been petrified of the wedding breaking apart and the royal household dropping Mary. It might have induced main issues. The Queen has all the time seen Mary as an amazing asset,” Phil Dampier, a reporter who has lined the Danish royal household extensively, informed the Telegraph.
In two weeks time, the Prince and Princess shall be pitched collectively as King and Queen and so they should get on with it, Dampier added. The Queen could also be pondering that they are going to patch up their variations and it’ll save their marriage.