The Danish queen proclaims January 14 abdication throughout New Yr’s Eve handle stay on TV, making approach for son, Crown Prince Frederik.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II will abdicate on January 14 after 52 years on the throne and might be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, she mentioned in her annual New Yr’s speech.
The 83-year-old queen, who took over the throne in 1972, is the longest-serving monarch in Europe following the dying of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
In February, she underwent a profitable again surgical procedure.
“The surgical procedure naturally gave rise to occupied with the long run – whether or not the time had come to depart the accountability to the following era,” she mentioned within the speech on Sunday.
“I’ve determined that now’s the correct time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I’ll step down as queen of Denmark,” she mentioned.
“I go away the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,” she added.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed the choice in a information launch.
He paid tribute to the monarch, providing a “heartfelt thanks to Her Majesty the Queen for her lifelong dedication and tireless efforts for the Kingdom”.
In Denmark, formal energy resides with the elected parliament and its authorities.
The monarch is predicted to remain above partisan politics, representing the nation with conventional duties starting from state visits to nationwide day celebrations.
Born in 1940, Margrethe has been one of the vital well-liked public figures in Denmark.
The 1.82m (6-foot) tall, chain-smoking monarch typically walked the streets of Copenhagen just about unescorted and received the admiration of Danes for her heat manners and for her abilities as a linguist and designer.
A eager skier, she was a member of a Danish girls’s air pressure unit as a princess, collaborating in judo programs and endurance checks within the snow. Margrethe remained powerful whilst she grew older.
In 2011, at age 70, she visited Danish troops in southern Afghanistan sporting a navy jumpsuit.
As monarch, she crisscrossed the nation and recurrently visited Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, the 2 semi-independent territories which can be a part of the Danish Realm.