Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Europe’s longest-serving monarch, unexpectedly declared that she would abdicate her throne after more than half a century and announced in her New Year’s speech on Sunday that her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, would succeed her. .
In her speech, Margrethe, 83, said her age and health were factors in her decision after more than 50 years as queen. “Such a long time doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone, not even me,” she said. “Time passes and the ailments increase.”
In particular, she said, a back surgery she underwent this year was a factor that prompted her to “think about the future – whether it was time to pass the responsibility to the next generation.”
“I have decided that this is the right time,” she said in her speech. “Fifty-two years after succeeding my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark.”
She said she would resign on January 14. Crown Prince Frederik is 55.
Margrethe, the eldest of three daughters of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid, ascended the throne after her father’s death in 1972 – and after Denmark passed a constitutional change to allow female succession, allowing the king to hand over his brother to Margrethe , his father. eldest child.
Denmark’s royal family, like its British counterpart, fulfills a largely ceremonial role under a parliamentary government. But Margrethe is credited modernize the Danish monarchy and the recovery of its popularity.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen – who becomes the first female prime minister to declare a new monarch – thanked the queen in a statement.
“Although the duty and role of the sovereign have been inherited for more than a thousand years, it is still difficult to understand that the time has come for a change of throne,” Ms. Frederiksen said. “Many of us have never known another monarch. Queen Margrethe is the embodiment of Denmark and over the years has expressed the words and emotions that define us as a people and a nation.”
In her speech, Margrethe thanked the Danish people for their support, as well as “the successive governments, with whom it has always been worth working together, and the Danish parliament, which has always trusted me.”
Much of the Queen’s popularity is due to her personality and artistic flair. Even after joining the line of succession at the age of 13, she remained interested in art. to deserve degree in prehistoric archeology from the University of Cambridge and studies at Aarhus University in Denmark, the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics.
She also produced her own artwork, including paintings displayed in museums, decoupages (a type of cut-and-paste artwork) and drawings. (Her illustrations were adapted for a “Lord of the Ring” book under a pseudonym, Ingahild Grathmer; The book’s publisher approached her after she sent copies as fan mail to JRR Tolkien in 1970.)
More recently she served as the costume and production designer for “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction,” a Netflix film adapting a fairy tale, with wardrobes and sets based on her drawings and other artworks. “I work when I can find the time,” she told The New York Times this past year, “and it seems like most of the time I can find the time.”
Although Margrethe has largely avoided the tabloid controversies that have plagued other royals in Europe, her relatives have made headlines in the past. Her husband, Prince Henrik, had long complained about not being called king or king consort, and about relying on Margrethe for money. He was eventually paid a salary, but in 2017, at the age of 83, he announced that he no longer wanted to be buried next to the queen.
He died six months later and was reportedly cremated, with half of it his ashes scattered across Danish waters and the others buried in the private gardens of a castle north of Copenhagen.
The queen also faced complaints from family members in 2022 after stripping four of her grandchildren of their royal titles.
Maya Tekeli reporting contributed.