After first ascending the throne in 1972, Queen Margrethe announced her abdication. Now we farewell the world’s last reigning queen and the longest-serving current monarch in Europe.
Crown Prince Frederik will be pronounced King Frederik X during a cabinet meeting, and Princess Mary will also commit her new duties as the queen.
The newly crowned, King Frederik X and Queen Mary.
(Credit: Getty)What is the current Danish royal line of succession?
Before 1849 the line of succession for the royal family was hereditary, passed down to the next male descendant.
They moved to a constitutional monarchy, but the male descendant was still favoured. Until 1953, when Denmark voted in favour of female descendants being able to inherit the throne.
This amendment paved the way for Margrethe, the eldest of two sisters, to be crowned Queen.
In 2009, the Act of Succession to the Throne of the Kingdom of Denmark was amended to allow the sovereign’s oldest child – regardless of gender- to inherit the throne.
Prince Christian will be first in line for the throne.
(Credit: Getty)After Prince Frederik ascends the throne, Prince Christian will be first in line for the throne.
If he has a daughter before any sons, she will be the heir to the Danish throne.
Prince Christian’s younger siblings Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent, and Princess Josephine are second, third and fourth in line for the crown.
The fifth place belongs to King Frederik’s brother, Prince Joachim of Denmark and his children, despite their titles being stripped, follow behind him.
Prince Joachim and his children, Count Nikolai, Count Felix, Count Henrik and Countess Athena are next in line of succession after Prince Christian and his siblings.
(Credit: Getty)The Denmark monarchy will only accept heirs who have received permission to marry from both the monarch and Council of State.
Any children born to unwed offspring are ineligible for the throne and so are their descendants.
And in the unlikely event that no heirs remain in the current line of succession, the Council of State have the power to elect a new monarch, generating a new line of succession.
This is highly unlikely as Denmark’s royal family is one of the oldest monarchies in the world, with Queen Margrethe II’s heritage dating back all the way to Gorm the Old, who died in 958.
