Denmark’s Prince Consort Henrik is suffering from dementia, it has been confirmed by the palace.
The monarchy released the statement just weeks after he said he didn’t want to be buried with his ‘disrespectful’ wife Queen Margrethe II.
The cruel disease is said to have advanced quicker than expected and the 83-year-old’s royal engagements will be downgraded as a result of the diagnosis.
Title fight: Prince Henrik of Denmark gave an interview 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’
Gruympy Frenchman: Last week, Prince Henrik has announced that he will not be buried next to Queen Margrethe when he dies in a long-standing row over his title
A palace statement read: ‘Following a longer course of investigation, and most recently, a series of examinations conducted during late summer, a team of specialists at Rigshospitalet has now concluded that His Royal Highness Prince Henrik suffers from dementia.
‘The extent of the cognitive failure is, according to Rigshospitalet, greater than expected considering the age of the prince.’
The French-born royal made headlines last month when he announced his refusal to be buried next to the queen when the time comes.
At the beginning of August, Prince Henrik of Denmark accused his wife Queen Margrethe of not showing him the respect ‘a normal wife must give her spouse.’ – because he was never made King.
In an interview with local weekly magazine Se og Hor he has accused the Queen of making a fool of him.
In a video on the magazine’s website the prince tries to explain his earlier outburst when he refused to be buried with his wife at Roskilde Cathedral.
He says: ‘It is her that is making a fool of me. I didn’t marry the Queen to be buried at Roskilde.’
The prince adds: ‘My wife has decided that she wants to be Queen, and I’m very happy about that.
‘But as a human being she needs to know that if a man and wife are married, they are equal.’
Long vocal about his frustration over being relegated to a supporting role, Prince Henrik explained in a newspaper interview on August 3 that he was not on equal footing with his wife in life and therefore did not want to be so in death.
The palace said that his decision had been accepted by the queen.
In Wednesday’s statement, the palace said the prince’s cognitive failure ‘can be accompanied by changes in behaviour, reaction patterns, judgement and emotional life and may therefore also affect the interaction with the outside world’.
As a consequence of the diagnosis, the prince, who retired from public service in January 2016, will ‘further downgrade his future activities, just as patronages and honorary memberships will be considered’.
It was not known whether Henrik’s remarks about his burial wishes were affected by the dementia.
A statement from the royal household said the Queen ‘has for some time been familiar with the decision’ and will not change her own burial plans
Disappointed that his royal title of prince consort was never changed to king when his wife became queen in 1972, Henrik has often spoken out about his discontent, which did little to endear him to his subjects.
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.