In a shocking move, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced in her New Year’s address she will be abdicating the Danish throne.
This means that her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, will become the new King on 14 January. But his brother, Prince Joachim, will be attending the event alone.
It has been revealed that Prince Joachim’s wife, Princess Marie, and his four children will not be making the trip to Copenhagen to see Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary be crowned.
Prince Joachim shares his two eldest children, Nikolai (24) and Felix (21), with his ex-wife Alexandra, and his two youngest, Henrik (14) and Athena (11), with his current wife Princess Marie.
Prince Joachim with his wife and four children.
(Getty)One of the final changes Queen Margrethe made in her reign was an effort to “slim down” the Danish royal family.
This “slimming down” essentially involved removing royal titles from extended members of the family, notably her youngest son’s children.
Prince Joachim’s four children were stripped of their Prince and Princess titles in late 2022, and instead they were named Counts and Countess.
The statement from the palace at the time wrote, “Her Majesty has decided that, as of 1 January 2023, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim’s descendants can only use their titles as counts and countess of Monpezat, as the titles of prince and princess that they have held up until now will be discontinued. Prince Joachim’s descendants will thus have to be addressed as excellencies in the future”.
Prince Joachim’s children were stripped of their royal titles in 2022.
(Getty)In response to this change, Prince Joachim said “We are all very sad. It’s never fun to see your children being mistreated like that. They themselves find themselves in a situation they do not understand.”
Queen Margrethe subsequently apologised for the shake-up it caused within the royal family, but stood firm in her decision.
This change in titles has reportedly caused some tension between the Danish royal family, and this tension seems to be further validated by Prince Joachim’s lone attendance to the proclamation of the new King and Queen of Denmark.
Prince Joachim will be attending his brother’s ascension to the Danish throne alone.
(Getty)Unlike the elaborate affair that was King Charles’ coronation in England, the Danes keep their crowning ceremonies very minimal.
The changeover of monarchs in Denmark will occur on Sunday 14 January, where a simple proclamation of the new reign will be made at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
This will involve the Danish prime minister proclaiming the new monarch on the balcony of the palace, and has been a tradition since the early 1900s.
The schedule will be starting at 11:00 PM AEST when the succession of the throne takes place and Queen Margrethe departs, and at midnight AEST the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, will proclaim Frederik and Mary as the new King and Queen.
Finally, at 03:00 AM AEST, there will be a fireworks display above the skies of Copenhagen to celebrate their new monarch.
