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How will Denmark’s Queen Margrethe hand over the throne on Sunday?

Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett - [email protected]
How will Denmark’s Queen Margrethe hand over the throne on Sunday?
Queen Margrethe rides through Copenhagen in a gilded carriage as part of New Year traditions. Her abdication on January 14th will be comparatively low-key. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark will get a new regent on January 14th at the moment Queen Margrethe puts pen to paper to sign her abdication.

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The Queen will attend a government council (statsråd) at the parliament in Copenhagen, Christiansborg, where she will sign a declaration of  her abdication.

At the moment she signs, Crown Prince Frederik will become king, according to a statement released by the Danish palace.

That means Crown Prince Frederik will arrive at Christiansborg on January 14th as heir to the throne and leave as King Frederik X.

Crown Princess Mary will become queen, and the couple’s oldest son, Prince Christian, 18, will become Crown Prince.

The time of the government council has yet to be confirmed.

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Once the abdication has been signed, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will proclaim the change of regent from Christiansborg Palace.

That last happened when then-PM Jens Otto Krag announced that Queen Margrethe had succeeded her father, Frederik IX, upon the latter’s death in 1972.

Unlike in the United Kingdom, where monarchs crowned at a coronation, Denmark’s kings and queens take the throne by proclamation.

READ ALSO: Why Denmark's king-to-be cannot expect a lavish UK-style coronation

“In Denmark, tradition up to now has been that the change of throne happens upon the regent’s death, as was most recently the case in 1972. In these cases the change happens the moment the regent dies,” the palace said in the statement.

That change will, in 2024, take place at the moment Queen Margrethe signs her abdication.

Crown Prince Frederik is yet to make a public statement since the Queen surprised Denmark by announcing her abdication in her New Year’s Eve speech.

The Crown Prince couple did, however, participate in the Queen’s New Year levees, in accordance with custom.

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Sylvia Holmes 2024/01/14 08:24
Congratulations to King Frederick May you have a long and Happy Reign

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