Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, Europe's Longest-Serving Monarch, Announces Surprise Abdication

Denmark's Queen Margrethe said she will abdicate the throne on January 14, after 52 years, and will be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik.

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II

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Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II,  Europe's longest-serving monarch, announced her surprise abdication from the throne on live TV during her traditional New Year's Eve speech on Sunday. She will give up the throne on January 14 after 52 years and will be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, she announced, reported Reuters.

Referring to a successful back operation which she underwent in February, the Queen said, "The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future - whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation".

"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, the report added. 

"I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik," she said. 

Following the death of Britain's Queen Elizabth II in September 2022, Queen Margrethe II became the longest-serving monarch in Europe. In July, she became the longest-sitting monarch in the history of Denmark. 

In Denmark, the elected parliament and its government holds the formal power and the monarch is expected to stay above partisan politics, representing the nation with traditional duties ranging from state visits to national day celebrations. 

Following the announcement, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked the queen for her life-long dedication to duty. 

"It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne," said the PM. 

Many Danes had never known another monarch, he added. 

"Queen Margrethe is the epitome of Denmark and throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation," she said.

Queen Margrethe was born in 1940 to Denmark's former monarch King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid and has throughout her life, enjoyed broad support from Danes, who admire her tactful and yet creative personality, the Reuters report added. 

She is also known for her love of archaeology and has participated in several excavations. 

In 1953, a constitutional amendment that allowed women to inherit the throne paved the way for her to become heir to her father at the age of 31. 

She married French diplomat Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, in 1967. Her husband served as her royal consort until his death in 2018. The couple has two sons, the elder one being Crown Prince Frederik, who will become King Frederik X, and Prince Joachim.