Denmark will soon have an Australian-born queen after the surprise abdication of the current reigning monarch Queen Margrethe II.
Europe’s longest-serving monarch announced she would abdicate on January 14 after 52 years on the throne.
She will be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik. He is married to Crown Princess Mary, who is originally from Hobart.
The 83-year-old queen, who ascended the throne in 1972, became the longest-serving monarch in Europe following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
Margrethe made the surprise announcement on live TV on Sunday (local time) during her traditional New Year’s Eve speech, which is viewed by many in the country of 5.9 million people.
It followed her successful back surgery last February.
“The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said.
“I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as queen of Denmark,” she said.
“I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,” she said.
The BBC reports that unlike British royal tradition, there will be no formal crowning ceremony for Crown Prince Frederik.
In Denmark, formal power resides with the elected parliament and its government.
The monarch is expected to stay above partisan politics, representing the nation with traditional duties ranging from state visits to national day celebrations.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked Margrethe for her life-long dedication to duty.
“It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne,” Frederiksen said in a statement, adding that many Danes had never known another monarch.
“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,” she said.
Born in 1940, Margrethe has throughout her life enjoyed broad support from Danes, who are fond of her tactful and yet creative personality.
Frederik, the heir to the throne, married former Hobart resident Mary (née Mary Elizabeth Donaldson) in 2004.
They have four children together. The eldest, Christian, recently turned 18.
Frederik made headlines when he was snapped by paparazzi walking through a park with Casanova during a ‘private trip’ to Madrid, Spain.
The pair then reportedly had a very public dinner together at the restaurant El Corral de la Morería, in the heart of Madrid.
(AAP)
