Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, Europe's longest-serving monarch, has announced her abdication after 52 years on the throne. The 83-year-old queen, who ascended the throne in 1972, surprised the nation during her New Year's Eve speech, citing a successful back operation in February that prompted contemplation about the future.
“The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said. “I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 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.”
https://x.com/DDIndialive/status/1741742552477499438?s=20
Queen Margrethe became the longest-serving monarch in Europe following the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. In July, she became the longest-sitting monarch in Denmark's history.
Formal power in Denmark resides with the elected parliament and its government, and the monarch typically stays above partisan politics.
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed gratitude for the queen's lifelong dedication to duty, acknowledging the challenging transition for many Danes who have known no other monarch.
“Queen Margrethe is the epitome of Denmark and throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation,” Frederiksen said.
Born in 1940 to Denmark's former monarch King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, Queen Margrethe, known for her tactful and creative personality, has enjoyed broad support from Danes. Her love for archaeology and participation in excavations are well-known aspects of her public persona.
Becoming heir to her father in 1953, after a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne, she married French diplomat Henri de Laborde de Monpezat in 1967.
Henri served as her royal consort until his death in 2018. The couple has two sons, Crown Prince Frederik, who will ascend to the throne as King Frederik X, and Prince Joachim. Frederik married Australian Mary Elizabeth Donaldson in 2004.
(Input from Reuters)
