Denmark’s Queen Steps Down As World’s Longest Ruling Monarch

(Bloomberg) -- Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, the world's longest-serving monarch, said she will hand over her position to her son after 52 years on the throne.

The queen, 83, cited deteriorating health for her decision, in a speech Sunday to the nation. She will formally step down Jan. 14, leaving the throne to her oldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik. 

“I have decided that now is the right time,” the queen said in her televised New Year's speech. “Time wears on and the ailments multiply. One can no longer cope the same as one did before.”

After the 2022 death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who was a close friend as well as a distant cousin, Margrethe became the world's longest-ruling monarch. Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, has held the title of ruler longer than Margrethe, but his country only became independent in 1984. Margrethe also in 2023 became the longest-sitting ruler in the 1,200 years of the Danish monarchy.

The popularity of the queen, known for her sharp wit and artistic abilities, has supported Europe's oldest monarchy through a half-century during which Denmark underwent sweeping societal changes, and royal houses elsewhere in Europe became mired in scandal.

Her position as monarch in a country with a democratic constitution has never widely been questioned. In a 2022 opinion poll by newspaper Jyllands-Posten, 72% of Danes said they supported the monarchy. In a 2023 survey by TV2, 78% said they expected Denmark would still have a monarchy in 50 years, up from 67% in a 2015 poll.

Not that Margrethe's reign was crisis-free. In 2022, she stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles in a streamlining move, provoking what she acknowledged were “strong reactions.” And during her ailing husband's final years, he complained publicly about his role.

Part of the queen's appeal has come from her multiple talents. She's fluent in Danish, German, English, French and Swedish. Her work as an artist has spanned paintings, book illustrations, theater costume designs and church textiles. Her works have been displayed in more than 50 museums from Tokyo to Washington. 

In 1981, working under a pseudonym, she translated into Danish a book by the French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir, .

Although Margrethe was the first woman to rule Denmark in 560 years, she refused to vocally promote gender equality, to the disappointment of some members of Danish women's rights groups.

“I prefer not to be involved in any movement,” she said during a trip to the US in 1976, when gender issues were high on the agenda in her homeland. “I have sympathy for it, but my job is to be queen, and that requires all my abilities and strength.”

No Sons

Margrethe was born on April 16, 1940, the first of three daughters of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid. Her birth at the royal place in Copenhagen came one week after Nazi Germany attacked and occupied Denmark. 

At the time, she wasn't in line to become head of state, as the constitution only allowed male succession. That would have meant the monarchy passing to her uncle, Knud. 

But popular sentiment was behind the bright, young princess. A constitutional referendum was held in 1953 that paved the way for female succession if the royal couple didn't have any sons. In 2009, the law of succession was changed again to give the first-born the right to the throne, regardless of gender.

In the period 1960-1965, Crown Princess Margrethe studied at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the Sorbonne, completing courses in archeology and political science.

Margrethe has said that if she hadn't been a monarch she would have been torn between becoming an archaeologist or an artist.

“I'm fortunate that I never had to face that dilemma because I knew what my task was, but then found out that I could still pursue the arts and also to some extent archeology,” the queen said in the 2011 interview book , by author Jens Andersen.

‘I Am Sorry'

In 1967, she married Henri Marie Jean Andre, a French count who had grown up in Vietnam. He took the Danish name Prince Consort Henrik. They had two sons: Crown Prince Frederik in 1968 and Prince Joachim the year after. 

She ascended the throne in 1972 after the death of her father and balanced her work as an artist with her royal duties. 

Margrethe faced her biggest public crisis in the last years of her marriage as Henrik repeatedly complained about his role and said he should have been given the title of king.

In 2017, he said he didn't want to be buried with his wife in the Roskilde Cathedral, as had been planned. Later that year, the royal court issued a statement saying the prince suffered from dementia. 

When he died in 2018, at age 83, Henrik was cremated, and a portion of his ashes was placed in the garden of a royal castle near Copenhagen. The other part was spread in Danish waters, in accordance with his wishes.

The move to strip the titles from the children of Margrethe's younger son followed similar downsizing in other royal houses, such as in Sweden. A week after it was announced, Margrethe apologized to her family but stuck by her decision, saying it was “in keeping with the times” and necessary to “future-proof” the institution, according to the royal court.

“I have made my decision as Queen, mother and grandmother, but, as a mother and grandmother, I have underestimated the extent to which much my younger son and his family feel affected,” she said in a written statement at the time. “That makes a big impression, and for that I am sorry.”

The queen suffered from back and knee pain in her later years. After undergoing surgery in 2023, she quit a heavy smoking habit, which had lasted 66 years and often was subject of debate. Health professionals had called on the queen to be a better role model.

--With assistance from Paul Geitner and Kati Pohjanpalo.

(Updates to add details from queen's life from fifth paragraph)

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