There is great excitement surrounding Queen Margrethe’s annual New Year’s Eve speech after what has been a turbulent year for the Danish royal house.
At 6pm on New Year’s Eve, millions of Danes sit down in front of the screen to watch Queen Margrethe’s traditional New Year’s speech from Amalienborg Castle.
But after a year marked by scandal, this time is expected to be even more exciting:
– The queen is frozen in the face of a small, temporary headwind in the population. She won’t play with upheavals in the family hierarchy, says Danish presenter Jes Dorph a Supplemental magazine.
Shockwaves swept through Denmark as the Queen decided in September that Prince Joachim’s children will stripped of their royal titles from 2023.
In an unusually forthright statement, Prince Joachim commented on the decision:
– I have been given five days notice to let my children know that their identity has been taken from them. I am very, very sorry that they are upset and this is happening over their heads, she said Danish newspaper BT.
The decision it was justified in “that the four grandchildren should be able to shape their lives to a greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal link with the Royal Household as an institution entails.”
Prince Joachim is the second son of the queen. He has four children:
Princes Nikolai (23) and Felix (20) with Countess Alexandra and Prince Henrik (13) and Princess Athena (10) with his current wife Princess Marie.
Read more on the matter: The drama in the Danish royal house continues: – It’s complicated
After a few days, the Queen apologized on Instagram:
– As a mother and grandmother, I underestimated how affected my youngest son and his family feel. It makes a big impression, and I’m sorry about that, he wrote at the time.
He also became Prince Christian in June taken out of controversial private school Herlufsholm after revelations about what have been described as ‘unacceptable conditions’.
The scandalous story began when a documentary by Danish TV 2 Øst showed the documentary “The Secrets of Herlufsholm”.
Exception this year
The Queen has a tradition of avoiding focusing on her family in her New Year’s Eve speech. After a very atypical year, however, royal house expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen believes family drama will be difficult to avoid this time around.
– Maybe this time he will make an exception and say something about his own family, because otherwise he will get criticism, he tells Danish TV2.
– The elephant in the room – the seizures – I suppose they will be mentioned, he says Ekstra Bladet’s royal commentator Kim Bach.
Royal house expert Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen believes the Queen faces a dilemma:
– She has to be careful what she says, because it doesn’t take long for people to change their attitude, she adds Danish TV2.
– Get a Charles
Although it is extremely difficult to predict the content of the queen’s speech this time, Bach believes one thing is certain:
– I think he will thank the population. He takes a Charles. He will thank the people for the great support he received when he celebrated his anniversary.
January 14, 2022 Queen Margrethe has celebrated 50 years on the throne.
Bach is sure that the queen will not even shy away from dangerous but important topics such as war in Europe and inflation in Denmark in this year’s speech.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth, Queen Margrethe (82) is Europe’s longest serving monarch. She is now also the only female monarch in the world.
Separate Christmas party
The royal family celebrated Christmas separately this year. While Queen Margrethe was in Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary (50) and the children celebrated in the Crown Princess’ native Australia.
Prince Joachim and his family also said they would take a longer holiday abroad at Christmas, but didn’t say where.
DO YOU REMEMBER? It didn’t quite go according to plan when former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to greet Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
It became known on Saturday evening that Princess Marie, who is married to Prince Joachim, will not attend the annual New Year’s table on January 1. New Year’s table is a traditional festive dinner.
This is because she is in Paris with Prince Henrik, who has fallen ill, she reports Danish TV2.
Prince Joachim will participate as planned, the royal house specifies in an email to the same newspaper.
