2024-01-02 06:43:18
The popular Queen Margaret II, Europe’s longest-serving monarch, surprised Denmark on Sunday by announcing that she will abdicate the throne on January 14 to her son, Crown Prince Frederick.
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Queen Margaret II of Denmark delivers a New Year’s speech announcing her abdication from the throne. (Photo by Keld Navntoft / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP).
Through the traditional televised speech on the occasion of the New Year, the queen made the unexpected announcement to the Danes. “On January 14, 2024, 52 years following succeeding my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederick,” she said.
52 years on the throne
Who is Margaret II? The Queen of Denmark was born at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on April 16, 1940. She is the first-born daughter of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid. At birth she was named Margrethe Alexandrine Thorhildur Ingrid Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg-Glucksburg.
He has two sisters, Princess Benedicta and Princess Ana María, married to Constantine of Greece, brother of Queen Sofia, wife of Juan Carlos I of Spain, the EFE agency states.
On June 5, 1953, when she was 13 years old, Margaret II was proclaimed heir to the Crown thanks to a constitutional reform that repealed the Salic Law that excluded women from the throne, indicates EFE.
She acceded to the throne on January 14, 1972 following the death of King Frederick IX, becoming the second queen in the history of Denmark, following Margaret I (1387-1412).
During her youth she worked as a dressmaker and set designer and in 1981 she translated the book “All Men Are Mortals” by the French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir into Danish.
He also dedicated himself to drawing and in 2002 he illustrated a reissue of the well-known saga “The Lord of the Rings”, by JRR Tolkien.
As an archeology enthusiast, she participated in excavations in Italy, Egypt and Sudan and is a promoter of the Queen Margaret II Archaeological Foundation.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark waves as she arrives aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog at the municipality of Aarhus, June 3, 2022. (Photo by Bo AMSTRUP / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP).
The queen has a degree in Economics and Sociology from the London School of Economics (1965), she also studied Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen (1960), Archeology at the University of Cambridge (1961), Political Science at the University of Aarhus (1962) and Art at the Sorbonne in Paris (1963).
In addition to being queen, she is the supreme authority of the Church of Denmark and commander-in-chief of the Danish Armed Forces.
On June 10, 1967, she married the French diplomat Henri de Laborde, Count of Montpezat, Prince Henry of Denmark, who died in 2017.
The couple, who had met in London when he was secretary at the French embassy, had two children: Crown Prince Frederick, born on May 26, 1968; and Joaquín, born on June 7, 1969.
Health problems
The queen had assured on several occasions that she would not abdicate and that she would remain on the throne until her death. But she now said that her decision was due to health problems.
“The operation … gave rise to reflections on the future, on the question of whether it was time to transfer responsibilities to the next generation,” the queen said in her message on Sunday.
Through a statement, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, reacted to what the queen announced: “Many of us have not met another monarch. “Queen Margaret is the very embodiment of Denmark and, over the years, she has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation,” she expressed.
“She has managed to be a queen who kept the Danish nation united in a period of many changes: globalization, the culmination of a multicultural society, economic crises (…) and the covid-19 pandemic,” added Hovebakke Sorensen.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark attends a gala dinner on the occasion of the 50th birthday of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at Christiansborg Castle, on May 26, 2018. (EFE/EPA/HENNING BAGGER).Crown Prince Frederik and the Queen Margrethe II arrives at the opening of the parliamentary session at Christiansborg Castle, October 4, 2022. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP).
The heir
EFE adds that the prince is passionate regarding the fight once morest climate change and that he embodies the image of a modern monarchy.
“When the time comes, I will take charge of the ship,” Frederick promised during the 50th anniversary of his mother’s reign.
Besides…
Other monarchs who have abdicated
-Emperor Akihito of Japan He gave his place to his son Naruhito on April 30, 2019. He spent 30 years on the throne.
–King Juan Carlos of Spain He abdicated on June 18, 2014 in favor of his son, who became King Felipe VI.
-Beatrice, Queen of the Netherlands since 1980, he renounced the throne on April 30, 2013 at the age of 75. He gave it to his son William Alexander. Before her, her mother Juliana also abdicated when she turned 71, as did her grandmother Guillermina in 1948, following 58 years on the throne.
-Albert II of Belgium He abdicated at age 79 on July 21, 2013.
-Grand Duke John of Luxembourg He abdicated in 2000 in favor of his son Enrique.
– Norodom Sihanouk from Camboya He was king twice (1941-1955 and 1993-2004) and abdicated twice. The first time in favor of his father. The second time his son succeeded him.
-King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom He abdicated in December 1936 so he might marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. He was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, father of Elizabeth II, who was crowned George VI in May 1937.
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