Margrethe II of Denmark
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Margrethe II (Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid; born 16 April 1940) was the Queen regnant of Denmark from 1972 until her abdication in 2024.
Life
Princess Margrethe was born at Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen. Her parents were Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid. She was baptised on 14 May 1940 at the Naval Church in Copenhagen. As King Christian X of Denmark was also the King of Iceland at the time of her birth, the Princess was given an Icelandic name, Þórhildur (spelled with the Icelandic thorn character, simplified as "th").
She studied archaeology at Girton College, Cambridge, from 1960 to 1961. She was also at the London School of Economics in 1965.
Margrethe was not born to be monarch, even though she was the eldest child of the Crown Prince, later King. At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark.
The act of succession was changed in 1953.
Her father King Frederik IX died in 1972, and Queen Margrethe II became the first female Danish Sovereign.[1][2]
In 2018, her husband Prince Henrik died of pneumonia in February and her first cousin Princess Elisabeth died in June.
On 31 December 2023, during her annual New Year's Eve address, Margrethe announced that she will abdicate the throne in favour of her son, Crown Prince Frederik, on 14 January 2024, exactly 52 years after she ascended the throne to Frederik X.[3][4]
Title
16 April 1940-14 January 1972 Her Royal Highness Princess Margrethe of Denmark
14 January 1972 -14 January 2024 Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark
14 January 2024 Her Majesty Queen Margrethe
Margrethe II Of Denmark Media
Margrethe (left) with her parents and sisters, 1954
Princess Margrethe in August 1966
Margrethe and Henri in 1966
Margrethe (centre-right) seated with her cousin, then-crown prince Carl Gustaf of Sweden, and President Urho Kekkonen of Finland at the 90th birthday celebration of Gustaf VI Adolf, November 1972
Margrethe hosting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Denmark, April 2010
Margrethe with Michelle Obama at the White House, June 2011
Margrethe surrounded by her family waving to crowds on her 70th birthday in April 2010
Henrik lighting a cigarette for Margrethe, 1966
Margrethe wearing her famous yellow and floral raincoat, which was sewn out of a waxy outdoor tablecloth
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Notes
- ↑ "Queen Margrethe of Denmark Announces She Will Abdicate in January After 52 Years on Throne". People. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
- ↑ Queen Margrete I ruled Denmark, Norway and later also Sweden between 1387 and 1412. She was a Danish princess, who married the King of Norway, and thus became Queen. She had a baby boy, and when her husbond died, the little boy was formally chosen to be king of both Norway and Denmark. Because the new king was still very young, his mother, Queen Margrete ruled in his name. The young king died when he was 17 years old, but his mother continued to rule both countries, and from 1397 Sweden was added, and she became the ruler of all of Scandinavia. She was however never a Sovereign.
- ↑ "Denmark's Queen Margrethe II announces surprise abdication on live TV". Reuters. 31 December 2023.
- ↑ Einarsdóttir, Silja Björklund (31 December 2023). "Dronning Margrethe av Danmark går av". NRK.
Other websites
- The Queen's Homepage Archived 2010-06-25 at the Wayback Machine
- The Official Website of The Danish Monarchy Archived 2006-07-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Illustrations - Lord of the Rings Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine