Queen Margrethe II: Danish monarch announces surprise abdication on live TV
By TOI Desk Report
January 1, 2024
Update on : January 2, 2024
In a surprise move, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, Europe’s longest-serving monarch, has announced her surprise abdication in a New Year TV address.
“I will leave the throne to my eldest son Crown Prince Frederik,” she said during her traditional New Year’s Eve speech broadcast on Danish television on Sunday.
Margrethe, 83, will formally step down on 14 January, after 52 years on the throne, report BBC and CNN.
Margrethe revealed that she decided after a period of reflection following a successful surgery on her back in February 2023.
She said the operation naturally generated thoughts about the future, whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation.
The queen said she has decided that now is the right time. It has been 52 years after she succeeded her beloved father, she said.
Moreover, Margrethe took the throne after the death of her father King Frederik IX in 1972.
During her speech, she offered her thanks to the Danish public for their support over the years.
However, the accession of Crown Prince Frederik will be announced from Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen on the day (January 14) as, unlike British royal tradition, there will be no formal crowning ceremony for him.
Frederik, 55, will take her place as King of Denmark and head of state in the country as well as in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
His wife Princess Mary will become Denmark’s Queen Consort.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement thanked Queen Margrethe II for her service “lifelong dedication and tireless efforts for the Kingdom.”
A large number of Danes had expected the queen to remain on the throne until her death.
Queen Margrethe, who is a popular figure in Denmark, had not been expected to become Queen. When she was 13, Danish law changed to allow women to take the throne.
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