The Danish Royal Household Begins the New Yr With Fewer Princes

New Yr’s has lengthy been the time the place the royal household of Denmark gathers for a collection of occasions that emphasize togetherness and their responsibility to the general public. However this yr, the celebrations got here with a message of unhappiness from Queen Margrethe II. In her annual New Yr’s Tackle, the queen famous the discord in her household that started when she introduced that the 4 kids of her son Prince Joachim can be stripped of their “Prince” and “Princess” titles.

“I all the time really feel nice love for my whole household. Difficulties and misunderstandings could come up in any household, additionally in mine. The entire nation has witnessed that,” she mentioned. “That the connection with Prince Joachim and Princess Marie has run into difficulties makes me unhappy. We have now now had a quieter interval and time for reflection, and I’m certain that our household can embark on the brand new yr along with confidence, understanding, and new braveness.”

On January 1, the title modifications went into impact, and now Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Joachim’s two sons along with his first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, and Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, from his present marriage to Princess Marie, at the moment are referred to as the Counts and Countess of Monpezat, a title that comes from the household of their late grandfather, Prince Henrik, who died in 2018. In keeping with Individuals, the palace web site was up to date to replicate the modifications inside hours.

This yr, the prolonged royal household celebrated Christmas individually. In keeping with Danish journal Her & Nu, Joachim, Marie, and all 4 kids spent the vacation in Vietnam, the place Henrik lived as a baby. Joachim’s brother, Crown Prince Frederik, his spouse, Crown Princess Mary, and their 4 kids had been noticed in Sydney the week earlier than the vacation, and the palace introduced that Queen Margrethe deliberate to spend the vacations along with her sister, Princess Benedikte, and their “non-public buddies.”

Earlier than Christmas, Marie informed the newspaper El País that she had been serious about the significance of household. “I’ll all the time encourage [the children] to have one another for the remainder of their lives,” she mentioned. “Seeing them united is essential to us as mother and father…. For us, it is extremely essential to be collectively and discuss every thing, in confidence, as a household.”

Regardless of the tensions, Joachim did be part of his household for his or her annual New Yr’s dinner on the Amalienborg Palace, although his spouse reportedly stayed behind in Paris as a result of their son Henrik was sick. Within the days after the palace introduced that his kids would lose their titles, Joachim mentioned that he felt his kids had been “harmed” and the queen apologized 5 days later. 

Nonetheless, it looks like the choice has pushed Joachim to distance himself from the household additional. For the final three years, the prince has lived in Paris as a navy attaché for the Danish embassy, however in December, Danish newspaper BT reported that he would transfer to Washington, DC over the summer time so he can take a brand new place.

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