New Year’s Eve celebrations took an unexpected turn in Denmark this year when the country’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Margrethe II, announced her decision to abdicate during her annual speech.

Shock reverberated around the world when the 83-year-old monarch, famous for her chain-smoking and flamboyant sense of style, announced her plans, but it was the people she rules who were most affected by the news.

Margrethe, who came to the throne in 1972, is the longest-serving monarch in Europe after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Unsurprisingly, Danes were surprised by the news, with many taking to social media to express their surprise.

Many took to TikTok to share their live reactions to Margrethe’s speech, and jaws were wide open.

During the speech, Margrethe said that her successful back surgery, which she underwent in February, helped shape her decision.

“The operation obviously gave rise to reflection on the future – whether it was time to pass the responsibility to the next generation,” she said in her speech.

“I’ve decided this is the right time. On January 14, 2024, 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark.

“I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.”

It was those words that left Denmark in a state of bewilderment.

Moments later, clips emerged on social media showing the Danes’ shocked reactions to Queen Margrethe’s decision.

In a after, one surprised individual wondered, “Is this called the King’s New Year’s Speech?” while a confused group of young people sat around the television in shock.

Elsewhere, a party She paused to listen to the Queen’s speech, but there were quick glitches as Margrethe shared her plans.

The video, captioned: “The moment everyone found out Denmark is getting a new king,” was accompanied by screams and someone exclaiming: “Oh my God.”

Another user shared his friend’s response to the abdication of the beloved queen, and she seemed to be in a state of shock.

Meanwhile, one TikTok user shared their response with a heartbroken emoji. They wrote: ‘Our beautiful queen, thank you for everything.’

Another apparently cried over the situation, writing: ‘I will miss her #queenmargrethe.’

One elsewhere Posted a live reaction to the news that reads: ‘Not ready to have a king.’

Another user agreed with that sentiment, sharing her reaction to the news, saying, “We don’t want a king.”

The user in shock, she held her hand tightly to her mouth and added in writing, “We have lost our queen here.”

Feelings of sadness were common, and another wrote, “The saddest news,” with a clip of her friend nearly in tears from the news.

However, it was not only negative emotions that swept Denmark, but also feelings of joy at the celebration of the new king.

One TikTok user shared her live response to Margrethe’s speech, which was accompanied by joyful exclamations.

It comes after the timing of Margrethe’s decision raised questions as it followed closely on the heels of Frederik’s controversial headlines depicting him on a night out in Madrid with a Mexican socialite, sparking rumors of an alleged ‘affair’.

Speculation is mounting that the decision has been made to keep Frederick’s wife of 19 years, Princess Mary, who is extremely popular with the public.

Princess Mary, who will become the country’s first Australian-born queen in weeks, has won over the Danish public with her dedication to royal duty and her command of the language.

Her husband is also equally popular, having changed his public image from a rebellious, loose and party animal to a family man during his youth.

However, their relationship came under scrutiny last year when Frederik was spotted on a night out with Mexican reality star Genoveva Casanova in October.

While the Royal Family declined to comment on photos of the couple together, Genoveva issued a public statement denying any form of romantic relationship and called the rumors “malicious.”

And in 2022, Margrethe stripped her youngest son Prince Joachim’s children, Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Prince Nikolai, 23, of their prince and princess titles.

Margrethe said at the time that she hoped the move would allow the siblings to “shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties” that a formal connection to the Danish royal family entails.

She said she thought it was better for her to take action rather than leave the burden to Frederick as future king.

Global oil prices rose on Monday after energy giant BP said it had stopped sending tankers through the Red Sea, a crucial shipping lane that has become an increasingly dangerous route due to drone and missile attacks on merchant ships launched by Yemen’s armed Houthi group .

BP’s announcement raised fears of further disruption to shipments through the Suez Canal, a key conduit for both crude and refined oil products.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have been carrying out attacks on ships in the region since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7. They have threatened all ships owned and operated by Israel, as well as any ship bound for Israeli ports. Both the Houthis and Hamas, who control Gaza, are supported by Iran.

“BP has decided to temporarily suspend all transit through the Red Sea,” the company said in a statement, citing “the deteriorating security situation for shipping.”

Over the weekend, military forces from the United States and other countries said they had shot down more than a dozen drones in the area.

Brent oil, the international oil benchmark, rose more than 3 percent in trading on Monday.

As the Red Sea has become a flashpoint, major shipping companies – including Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping – said in recent days they would temporarily stop sending ships through the area.

A major risk is that, if attacks on shipping continue, oil companies and other shippers will stop using the Suez Canal for an extended period of time. Such a change could disrupt the flow of oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where BP operates a major oil field, to Europe and elsewhere.

Tankers en route from the Persian Gulf region regularly travel through the Red Sea to reach the Suez Canal, which serves as a passage to the Mediterranean Sea. Ships from Saudi Arabia also unload crude oil into a pipeline called the SUMED, which runs from Ain Sokhna, a port and storage area south of Suez, to a terminal near the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

Viktor Katona, an analyst at Kpler, a company that tracks commodity movements, said the amount of oil and oil products flowing through the Suez Canal has already fallen sharply this month, to about a third of usual flows.

If the delay continues, he said, tankers will have to take the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. In that case, tankers would not only consume more fuel during transportation, but freight rates and insurance premiums would most likely increase, raising costs for consumers.

“The pressure is building up in the system,” he said.