Crown Prince Frederik has left the Winter Olympics in South Korea to rush home because the condition of his father, Prince Henrik, has ‘seriously worsened’, Denmark’s royal palace has said.
French-born Henrik, husband of Queen Margrethe, was admitted to hospital on January 28 with a lung infection.
Crown Prince Frederik, an IOC member, was attending the Games which are opening later on Friday.
Prince Henrik de Montpezat with Queen Margrethe in August 2006 – he is reported to be seriously ill with a lung infection
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (Luke Macgregor/PA)
Title fight: Prince Henrik of Denmark gave an interview last year to expand on his decision not to be buried next to his wife when the day comes – accusing the Queen of ‘making a fool of me’
Sometimes referred to as Denmark’s grumpy royal, Henrik has not been afraid to air his grievances in public
Henrik has often voiced his dissatisfaction with not being the queen’s equal after she acceded to the throne in 1972.
In August, Henrik, who retired from public life in 2016, said he did not want be laid to rest next to Margrethe in the couple’s sarcophagus.
He accused her of not showing him the respect ‘a normal wife must give her spouse.’ – because he was never made King. He accused the Queen of ‘making a fool of me.’
Henrik was also upset over not being named ‘King Consort’ when Queen Margrethe ascended to the throne in 1972, instead having to settle for ‘Prince Consort’.
In September, the palace announced that the 83-year-old prince was suffering from dementia.
Born Henri Marie Jean Andre Count de Laborde de Monpezat on June 11, 1934 in Talence, near Bordeaux, he met Margrethe, then the crown-princess, while he was stationed in London as a diplomat.
Upon marrying her, he changed his name to Henrik, converted from Catholicism to Protestantism and renounced his French citizenship to become a Dane.
By the time Margrethe acceded to the throne, the couple had two young children: Prince Frederik, born in 1968, and Joakim, born in 1969.