How Denmark’s Queen Margrethe sparked a royal row by stripping her own grandchildren of their titles

Queen Margrethe of Denmark tonight announced her shock abdication after 52 years on the throne.

The surprise announcement, which was made on live TV during the queen’s traditional New Year’s Eve speech, comes 15 months after the 83-year-old stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles.

In September 2022, the monarch removed prince and princess as well as ‘His/Her Highness’ titles from Nikolai, 24, Felix, 21, Henrik, 14, and Athena, 11, who are the children of her second son, Prince Joachim.

She said she hoped it would help ‘shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties’ that a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family involves.

Like her abdication, the stripping of her own grandchildren’s titles came as a major shock and sparked a royal row.

The Danish Queen (pictured with her sons Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim and their wives) has said the decision was intended to allow her grandchildren to live normal lives without royal obligations

Denmark’s Prince Felix, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim, Princess Athena, Prince Henrik and Prince Nikolai in September

Last year, Prince Joachim publicly spoke out against his mother’s decision in the days that followed – claiming that his children born from Joachim’s first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg – and Henrik and Athena had been ‘harmed’ in the process.

Months later, the sixth-in-line to the throne admitted that ‘communication was missing’ within the Royal Family in the lead-up to the shock announcement.

Joachim told local news outlet B.T.: ‘There is a lot to work on. Communication was what was missing. Now we have met and we are on the right track.’

Shortly after his children were stripped of his titles, Joachim claimed that he had only been given five days’ notice before the news was made public.

Following the Queen’s announcement, Joachim spoke to Danish publication Ekstra Bladet outside the Danish Embassy in Paris, where he lives with his French-born wife Princess Marie and his two youngest children, and said his four children had been ‘hurt’ by their grandmother’s decision.

‘I was given five days’ notice to tell them. In May, I was presented with a plan which, by and large, was that when the children each turned 25, it would happen. Now I had only five days to tell them. Athena turns 11 in January,’ he clarified at the time.

Meanwhile, his ex-wife Alexandra said that her sons, Nikolai and Felix, had been left feeling ‘ostracised’ from the institution and the decision had come like a ‘bolt out of the blue’.

The Royal Household released a further statement, saying: ‘As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.

‘We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen’s wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.’ 

The monarch announced in September that the four children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim, would no longer be able to use the title of prince and princess after January 1. Pictured, Countess Athena, left, and right, Count Henrik 

Denmark’s Royal Family has updated their website to show the new status belonging to four of Queen Margrethe’s grandchildren after they were stripped of their HRH titles. Pictured, Count Nikolai, left, and right, Count Felix 

In an interview with local Danish media last February, Queen Margrethe had revealed she thought that it was better for her to take action than then leave the burden to Crown Prince Frederik as the future King. 

‘It’s been important to me that this should never be Frederik’s lot to make that kind of decision,’ she said at the time.

‘It’s better that I did. Because then it’s the old lady that made the decision. I am not keen to get into it to be honest.

‘I could mention some things, but you shouldn’t have to tell everything. But it is still a little bit too private to talk about.’

They are now Counts and Countess and referred to as Their Excellencies – and in January the Danish Royal Family updated their website to show the new status.

Speaking in last year’s New Year’s address, Margrethe admitted: ‘That the relationship with Prince Joachim and (his wife) Princess Marie has run into difficulties hurts me.

‘Difficulties and disagreements can arise in any family, including mine. The whole country has witnessed this.’

She added that she was ‘sure that the family can enter the new year together with confidence, understanding and new courage’.

Queen Margrethe was proclaimed queen on January 15, 1972, a day after her father, King Frederik IX, died following a short illness.

In her broadcast today, Queen Margrethe II stated: ‘I have decided that now is the right time. On January 14, 2024, 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark.’

The Danish Queen (right) will be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik (centre) pictured with his Australian-born wife Crown Princess Mary

Margrethe II was the eldest of the three daughters of King Frederik IX of Denmark, and succeeded him to the throne in 1972

Queen Margrethe is the longest-serving monarch in Europe following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. 

In February, she underwent a successful back surgery.

In a bombshell announcement tonight, she said: ‘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 in her speech.

‘I have decided that now is the right time. On January 14, 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.’

The Danish Royal Family has been rocked by rumours in recent weeks – after photographs emerged of Crown Prince Frederik enjoying a night out with a Mexican socialite in Madrid in October. 

Despite the swirling rumours of the alleged ‘affair’, Crown Prince Frederik, 55, and his Australian-born wife Crown Princess Mary, 51, appeared loved up as they headed into Aarhus cathedral on Sunday, December 24.