Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary: a guide to Denmark's next king and queen

Denmark's Queen Margrethe II is preparing to hand the throne to her former "party prince" son after announcing her surprise abdication on live TV.

Addressing her nation on New Year's Eve, the world's only reigning queen and Europe's longest-serving monarch said she would step down on 14 January – 52 years to the day since she became queen following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.

The throne will go to her 55-year-old son, Crown Prince Frederik, described by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as a once "rebellious teen" turned "'woke' family man" who champions Denmark's "drive to find solutions to the climate crisis". His Australian-born wife, Crown Princess Mary, will become queen consort on his accession to the throne.

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The background

As a "lonely and tormented" youth in the early 1990s, said AFP, Frederik "sought solace in fast cars and fast living, and was considered a spoiled party prince". 

"He was not strictly speaking a rebel," Danish royals expert Gitte Redder told the agency, "but as a child and young man, he was very uncomfortable with the media attention and the knowledge that he was going to be king."  

But public perceptions of Frederik began to change after he became the first Danish royal to complete a university education, graduating from Aarhus University in 1995 with a master's in political science, after spending a year at Harvard University. 

He later joined the Danish Navy, serving in the Frogman Corps and becoming one of only four of the 300 recruits to pass its rigorous tests. During a scuba diving course, he earned the nickname "Pingo", after his wetsuit filled up with water, "forcing him to waddle like a penguin", according to the Daily Mail.

His wife of 19 years, Princess Mary, grew up on the island of Tasmania and was working as a lawyer when the pair met in 2000, at a bar in Sydney during the Olympic Games. Then a commerce and law student working as an advertising executive, Mary reportedly had no idea that he was a royal.

"The first time we met we shook hands," she once told an interviewer, "I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are'?"

Her journey from "commoner" to Denmark's throne has been compared to that of the Princess of Wales, with some describing them as "royal sisters", said The Telegraph. 

Frederik and Mary are extremely popular in Denmark, with a recent poll for Danmarks Radio putting their approval ratings at 84% and 85% respectively, putting them on a par with Queen Margrethe.

The latest

In her New Year's Eve televised address, the 82-year-old monarch said her decision to step down from the throne came after a "period of reflection" following surgery on her back in 2023.

The surgery had "prompted thoughts about the future", Margrethe said, and "whether it was time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation".

A popular figure in Denmark, most Danes had expected the chain-smoking royal to remain on the throne until her death. "She is to us what Queen Elizabeth was to you," Danish journalist Tine Gotzsche told the BBC.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked Margrethe for her service "lifelong dedication and tireless efforts for the kingdom".

"Many of us have never known another regent," said Frederiksen. "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."

The reaction

It was an "abdication that can only take place in Denmark", said Martin Krasnick in Danish newspaper Weekendavisen. Margrethe's New Year’s Eve speech was "personal and perfectly balanced", with "no drama, no unnecessary pathos". 

But her abdication, which came as a total surprise to the Nordic nation, may be part of a "calculated strategy" to save the marriage of her son and future king,  The Telegraphsuggested.

Frederik has been "dogged" by recent rumours of an affair after being photographed in Madrid with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova. Spanish magazine Lecturas published images of them "visiting a Picasso exhibition and reportedly sharing an intimate dinner", and of Frederik allegedly leaving Casanova's apartment the morning after.  The royal family have not commented on the reports. 

But others have speculated that Queen Margrethe may have stepped down to avoid a "Prince Charles situation".

Commentators have suggested that Margrethe may have wanted Frederik to avoid the fate of Britain's now king, who only acceded to the throne at the age of 73, after Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022 at the age of 96.