The most popular queen in Europe, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, announced on Sunday that she would abdicate on January 14 and hand the throne over to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
After Britain’s Elizabeth II passed away, Margrethe, now 83, became the sole reigning monarch of Europe, ruling for 52 years.
In her 50 years as queen, she has been praised for quietly modernizing Danish royalty.
Citing her age and health concerns, she made the unexpected announcement during her customary New Year’s Eve speech that was televised on Danish television.
“In two weeks time I have been Queen of Denmark for 52 years,” she said.
That length of time would take its time on anyone, she added. “One cannot undertake as much as one managed in the past…
“On 14th January, 2024 –- 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father -– I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik.”
Despite her insistence on never abdicating, the chain-smoking queen’s back surgery in February “gave cause to thoughts about the future — whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation.”
The queen, known for her artistic talents, has been hugely popular in Denmark.
“She has managed to be a queen who has united the Danish nation in a time of large changes: globalisation, the appearance of the multicultural state, economic crises in the 1970s, 1980s and again in 2008 to 2015, and the pandemic,” historian Lars Hovebakke Sorensen told AFP.
“The basis of her popularity is that the queen is absolutely non-political,” he said.
Queen of Arts
She has a wide smile and bright blue eyes. She is well-known for her lively and carefree personality as well as her participation in Denmark’s cultural scene.
She has frequently collaborated with the Royal Danish Ballet and Royal Danish Theatre. She is also a painter in addition to a costume and set designer.
She is fluent in English, French, German, and Swedish and attended Cambridge and the Sorbonne in Paris.
Under a pseudonym, she has also translated plays, such as Simone de Beauvoir’s “All Men Are Mortal,” alongside her spouse who is French.
But it is primarily her paintings and drawings that have caught the public’s eye.
She has illustrated several books, including a Danish 2002 edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”, and her paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Denmark and abroad.
Crown Prince Frederik, 55, is meanwhile the embodiment of the country’s relaxed, liberal monarchy.
Passionate about the environment, he has discreetly imposed himself in the shadow of his mother, championing Denmark and its drive to find solutions to the climate crisis.
“When the time comes, I will guide the ship,” he said in a speech celebrating his mother’s half century on the throne.
“I will follow you, as you followed your father” in leading the thousand-year-old institution, Prince Frederik added.
He met his wife Mary Donaldson, an Australian lawyer, at a Sydney bar during the 2000 Olympic Games.
They have tried to give their four children as normal an upbringing as possible, sending them mainly to state schools.
Their eldest, Prince Christian, who recently turned 18, was the first Danish royal to go to daycare.
Frederik and Mary are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports,” said historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen, adding that they would represent a careful transition to the times.
Frederik has said that he sees himself complementing his mother, a polymath who is an accomplished writer and artist.
“You paint, I exercise. You dig for buried objects from the past, I buried my head in order not to be recognised during my time in the armed forces. You are a master of words. I am sometimes at a loss for them,” he joked during the queen’s jubilee celebrations.