Royal drama after Danish Queen Margrethe snatches titles

• The four children of Queen Margrethe II’s eldest son, Prince Joachim, have had their royal titles taken away.
• The decision was made to free up Nikolai, Felix, Henrik, Athena and other children from royal commitments.
• Denmark’s only reigning queen regrets the harm done but stands by her decision.

Four of the queen of Denmark Margrethe’s grandchildren had their titles taken away, which has caused unheard-of royal drama in Copenhagen and prompted her outraged son to air the family’s dirty laundry in public.

The four children of Queen Margrethe II’s eldest son, 53-year-old Prince Joachim, will no longer be allowed to use the titles of prince and princess as of January 1, the monarch stated last week.

On Monday, she expressed regret for the harm done.

However, Margrethe stuck by her choice, which was made to free up Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, Athena, 10, and the other children of Joachim’s previous marriage from royal commitments.

The action was in line with a tendency among other European royal families, especially in Britain, where the Windsors are currently embroiled in a family quarrel, to streamline their kingdoms.

“Holding a royal title involves a number of commitments and duties that, in the future, will lie with fewer members of the royal family,” Europe’s only reigning queen said in a statement.

Prince Joachim, however, perceived it as a slight and was eager to criticise it in the media.

“On May 5 I was presented with a plan. That this whole issue of my children’s identity would be removed when they each turned 25. Athena will turn 11 in January”, he told Danish tabloid B.T.

“Then, I received five days’ notice” that the decision had been accelerated.

His first wife Alexandra voiced her shock and those of her children to B.T. as well as her anguish through her eldest son.

“I’m very bewildered as to why this had to happen like this”, Nicolai told tabloid Ekstra Bladet.

Being so soon after the incredibly well-liked royal family had marked the queen’s 50th year on the throne with pomp and smiles, the outpourings shocked the Scandinavian nation.

According to historian Lars Hovbakke Sorensen, there is “no precedent in Denmark of members of the royal family discussing with one other in public.”

Since the queen’s declaration, Prince Joachim claimed he “sadly” hadn’t spoken to either his mother or his older brother, Crown Prince Frederik.

“It’s also family. Or whatever one could call it”, he told B.T.

His Australian-born wife Mary and Crown Prince Frederik’s relationship with the pair, according to his French-born wife Princess Marie, is “difficult.”

When Joachim and Marie claimed that their 2019 transfer to Paris, where Joachim serves as the Danish embassy’s defence attache, was not of their “own choosing,” the media dug up another ancient family feud.

However, royal observers were not surprised by the queen’s choice.

According to historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen, it is “natural, reasonable, and necessary.”

Crown Prince Frederik, 54,’s four additional grandchildren with the queen will continue to hold those positions.

The queen made the decision to grant an appanage to solely Prince Christian, the future king, in 2016 when they reached adulthood.

According to a Voxmeter poll, 50.6 percent of Danes approve with her choice, while 23.3 percent do not.

Even though this is not the royal family’s first scandal, it is one of their most notable.

In 2002, after Crown Prince Frederik was picked to represent the queen at a New Year’s event rather than him, the late Prince Consort Henrik made news when he escaped to his castle in southern France to “think on life” and claim he didn’t receive enough respect in Denmark.

Henrik, who had dementia, declared just months before he passed away in 2018 that he did not want to be buried close to his wife since he had never been treated equally…AFP

Also Read

Queen Margrethe’s decision to revoke titles causes royal controversy

Prince Joachim children's will no longer be allowed to use the titles...