2023-12-31 18:37:35
– The Queen of Denmark announces she will abdicate on January 14
At 83, Margrethe II, the last queen in Europe, wants to make way for the next generation.
Published today at 7:37 p.m.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark delivers a New Year’s speech from Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 31, 2023, announcing her upcoming abdication following 52 years of reign.
AFP
Danish Queen Margrethe II announced on Sunday during her traditional New Year’s speech that she would abdicate on January 14, following 52 years of reign.
“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 Frederik,” she said during her televised vows.
Unifying and popular, the sovereign, widowed since 2018, had undergone major back surgery in February which prevented her from appearing in public until April. “The operation (…) gave rise to reflections on the future, on the question of whether it was time to transfer responsibilities to the next generation,” confided the queen, 83 years old.
On the throne since the death of her father in 1972, this polyglot intellectual contributed to gradually modernizing the monarchy. Since the death of her distant cousin Elizabeth II, Margrethe is the last queen to reign in Europe. More than 80% of Danes identify as monarchists and they turned out in their thousands to celebrate his jubilee of 50 years of rule last year.
“Many of us have never known another monarch. Queen Margrethe is the very embodiment of Denmark and, over the years, she has put into words and feelings what we are as a people and as a nation,” responded Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement.
Dressed to the nines
Always dressed to the nines, she subtly modernized the image of the Danish monarchy by remaining at the head of the small Nordic country for more than half a century. On January 14, 1972, on the death of her father Frederik IX, she was the first woman to ascend the throne – Margrethe I was only officially regent in the Middle Ages (1375-1412).
It was exactly 52 years later that she passed the scepter to her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, 55 years old. In Denmark, the share of monarchists peaks at more than 80% and the Danish royal family is among the most popular in the world.
Margrethe, whose reign is the second longest in the history of the kingdom, is an institution that has long seemed indestructible. Since the death of her distant cousin Elizabeth II, she is the current longest-reigning monarch in Europe. In front of his Swedish neighbor and also cousin Carl XVI Gustaf, who has just celebrated his 50 years on the throne. In the world, only the Sultan of Brunei exceeds it by four years.
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