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Key Points
- Denmark’s Queen Margrethe announced her abdication on New Year’s Eve.
- Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian born-wife Princess Mary will become King and Queen on 14 January.
- Historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen says the couple are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports”.
She revealed her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, married to Princess Mary, will succeed her when she abdicates on 14 January.
“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.”
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascended to the throne in 1972, making her Europe’s longest serving monarch. Source: AFP / Mads Claus Rasmussen
Queen Margrethe, who ascended the throne in 1972, became the long-serving female monarch in Europe following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
“I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,” she said.
Europe’s first Australian-born Queen
Read Related Also: Princess Mary to become Queen of Denmark after surprise abdication
Now, married for 19 years and proud parents to four children, Mary has won her adopted country over with her dedication to royal duty.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will become King and Queen on 14 January. Source: Getty / Patrick van Katwijk
Both Frederik and Mary are passionate about the environment and finding solutions to the climate crisis.
The couple are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports”, he added.
“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.
“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.