After the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has now found herself the longest-reigning queen in Europe and the longest-reigning monarch on the international stage, with the exception of the Sultan of Brunei, according to foreign press.
The two queens share many similarities, knowing that they are in a family relationship. Margaret and Elizabeth II are very related, being grandchildren of Queen Victoria, their friendship stretches back decades, and both women share a passion for dogs, and a relationship strong enough to address each other by their nicknames, Daisy and Lilibet, respectively.
Upon learning of the death of the British Queen, she became the first foreign queen to pay tribute to her, writing a moving letter to King Charles III expressing her condolences. She said, “I send my warmest thoughts and prayers to you and Camilla… She was an outstanding figure among the kings of Europe and a great inspiration to all of us. She will be sorely missed.”
Margaret’s golden jubilee and fifty years of public service were to be celebrated on the Monday immediately after Elizabeth’s death at Balmoral, and due to this attendance was curtailed.
Queen Margrethe II, who is widely popular among her people, sits on the throne of Denmark since January 14, 1972. She is the first woman to rule Denmark and she was 32 years old, after the death of her father, King Frederick IX.
The Queen, 82, had planned to celebrate the golden jubilee on its actual date, last January, but she postponed the events to late summer due to the pandemic.
Margaret was born on April 16, 1940, the eldest daughter of Frederick IX of Denmark and Ingrid of Sweden, just one week after Nazi Germany invaded her homeland.
She and her two younger sisters grew up; Princess Benedict and Princess Anne Marie, at Frederick VIII Palace in Amalienborg, Copenhagen, and at Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand.
She became a presumptive heir before her uncle, Prince Knud, thanks to a constitutional amendment that took effect in 1953, without which she would have been prevented from making history, as the first woman to sit on the throne of Denmark since Margaret I, who ruled the Scandinavian kingdoms between 1375 and 1412.