The Royalty Nerd

The Danish royals always ring in the new year in style with a gala dinner. This year’s is particularly special because Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has announced that on January 14th, she will be abdicating from the throne in favour of her son and heir, Crown Prince Frederik.

The announcement came during her annual New Year’s speech:

This has come as a huge surprise to many, as Queen Margrethe has previously spoken about her role as monarch being a lifelong job. While we’ve seen many monarchs around the world abdicate over the years, Denmark is not a country where monarch’s willingly step down.

However, we do know that Margrethe has experienced some health issues recently, including a major back surgery that left her out of commission for a while this year and as she said in her speech, this obviously caused her to rethink her position on things.

So what do we know now?

The Coronation (Or Lack Thereof):

The Danish royals do not have a large, lavish coronation ceremony compared to most other monarchies.

Embed from Getty Images

What we will see is a really simple proclamation from the balcony from the Prime Minister announcing the new King. Above, the newly proclaimed Queen Margrethe stands with her late husband Prince Henrik and their sons on the balcony.

Titles:

As of January 14th, we’re going to see some title changes. Queen Margrethe will likely still be styled as Queen. However, she will no longer be The Queen. That title now goes to Crown Princess Mary, or in two weeks time: Queen Mary. Crown Prince Frederik will reign as King Frederik X. Their eldest son Prince Christian will be Crown Prince Christian, as he will be second in line to the throne.

Just so we’re clear, yes Mary is a consort. She will not be queen in her own right the way Margrethe is/was. However, we do not refer to other consorts as ‘Queen Consort’ and we’re not going to start that now.

That’s not to say that the Danes will go the route of the Dutch and style Margrethe as ‘Princess’, though I don’t see that happening honestly. But royals have surprised me before! I haven’t seen anything 100% confirmed on what Margrethe’s title will be, but we’re going to know one way or another in two weeks.

New Years:

For her last New Years gala as Queen of Denmark, Margrethe wore the Pearl Poiré tiara, which is both expected but also a bit of a surprise. She wears this one so often it’s almost a given now that she’s going to wear it to a tiara event. But, considering the news I did hope that she might pull of the Danish emeralds one last time. That set of jewels is part of Denmark’s Crown Jewels, and reserved for the sitting queen.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended as well. Mary wore the Danish ruby parure and a repeated Birgit Hallstein gown. I was hoping for the Danish rubies, if only because we just haven’t seen it in ages.

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie flew back to Denmark from Washington for the gala. Marie wore a Rikke Gudnitz gown that she has worn a few times before. She also wore Princess Dagmar’s floral tiara, one that she wears more often than not. I love it, personally.

Princess Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg wore the SWB fringe tiara. She is the sister of Queen Margrethe and regularly attends Danish events.

The Present and the Future:

So, as of January 14th, we will no longer have any sovereign queens in Europe until the younger generation begins to take over thrones (and then we’ll be overrun with queens!) As well, the title of longest reigning monarch will now go to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

As sad as it is to see Daisy leave the throne, she definitely deserves an easy retirement. It’s going to be odd saying King Frederik X and Queen Mary but the future looks bright (and bejewelled)!