Queen Margaret of Denmark’s New Year’s message ended with a surprise. On Sunday, mid-afternoon, the 83-year-old Danish sovereign rang the bell by announcing her abdication, which will take effect on January 14, just 52 years after succeeding her father, Frederick IX. In this way he puts an end to five decades of an uneventful reign, in which he has gained great popularity by combining hobbies with obligations, and wearing jewelry and decorations with the same naturalness, at official events, as a wicker basket in a market. during his vacation in France.
His heir, 55 years old, who will reign as Frederick the new king of Denmark, without enjoying the popularity of his mother but largely accepted by the Danes. An heir marked by his youthful whims, which led him to be known as the turbo prince for his love of cars and women, and for his erratic behavior in recent years.
The participation of the crown prince in public affairs, always in the shadow of his mother, and especially in tasks of promoting Denmark’s economic interests in the world, has been affected by repeated episodes of marital crisis; the last one following his escape to Spain, where he appeared in the company of the socialite Genoveva Casanova.
Even having repeated her desire to reign until she died, that hers was a lifelong duty, Margaret of Denmark, aware that her heir is going through difficult times, seems to have decided to abdicate to protect the transfer and ensure that he lives with her. The Danes, out of gratitude for his dedication to the country, will more readily accept and give their support to the new king.
The same thing didn’t happen almost 52 years ago. Frederick IX died on January 14, 1972 and the next day the hitherto 31-year-old Princess Margaret made her first appearance as her queen; She in mourning, she appeared on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, from where she announced the motto of her reign: “The help of God, the love of the people and the strength of Denmark.” She has never strayed from her ideology.
Like her sisters, Benedicta and Anna María (who, years later, would briefly be queen of Greece), Margaret studied in Denmark and, later, higher education at the Sorbonne in Paris. In France she met the man who, on June 10, 1967, would become her husband, the French diplomat Enrique de Monpezat. While she was still an heir, she was the mother of two sons: Frederick, the next king, born on May 26, 1968, and Joachim, on June 7, 1969.
As in Sweden and Norway, the Danish monarchy limits its powers to mere high representation, without political functions. Considered an unelected senior public official (according to the Danish Constitution), Queen Margaret has played that role by getting involved in the day-to-day life of citizens, which has earned her enormous popularity.
Passionate about theater, poetry and painting, she has never abandoned her hobbies, getting involved in theatrical productions, poetry recitals and painting exhibitions. Despite being a heavy smoker, she has had no health problems until recently. A back injury, which forced her to receive sitting, led her to the operating room a few months ago; She quit smoking, at least in public, but she has never disowned her addiction.
For years she dealt with the pretensions of her husband, with whom she always seemed youthfully in love; Enrique de Monpezat never assumed that, unlike the king’s wives, titled queens consort, he had to settle for being a prince. It was difficult for Enrique to live up to a woman who, in addition to being queen, is 1.80 meters tall. Along with the rudeness of her husband, who died in 2018, Margarita also suffered the delusions of grandeur of her second son, Joaquín, whose children, Nicolás and Félix (by his first wife, Alejandra Manley), and Enrique and Atenea (by the second, Marie Chevalier), withdrew the title of prince with the consequent anger of the children’s father. It was her last decision as queen and head of the family in order to relieve the next king of obligations, which she will have enough with her own demons.
