Crown Princess Mary set to make history
Crown Princess Mary is set to make history, after a surprise announcement from Queen Margrethe has shaken up the Danish royal family.
On New Year's Eve, Queen Margrethe, who is currently Europe's longest-serving monarch, announced that she would be stepping down as the Danish monarch from January 14th, making her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, the country's new King.
The Crown Prince will be known as King Frederik X, and his wife, Australian-born Crown Princess Mary, will be his Queen Consort, and will be known as Queen Mary.
While there have been monarchs known as Queen Mary in the past, the Tasmanian native will be the first ever Australian to hold the title.
Unlike the British royal family, King Frederik and Queen Mary will not be crowned in a coronation service.
Instead, a proclamation of the new reign will be made at Christiansborg Palace on January 14th, as the prime minister has proclaimed each new monarch on the balcony of the Danish palace since the early 1900s.
The announcement from Queen Margrethe was made during her annual New Year's Eve speech, where she reflected on having surgery on her back in February 2023.
“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 the televised speech.
“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,” she said.
“I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,” she added.
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