Denmark’s Prince Frederik X is now the crowned King, as her mother steps down
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen formally crowns Frederik X as the king of Denmark after Queen Margrethe II’s abdication.
Following his mother Queen Margrethe II’s official abdication, Denmark’s prime minister formally crowned her son Frederik X king on Sunday. Huge crowds gathered to celebrate the handing over of the kingdom from a cherished monarch to her well-liked son.
Margrethe, eighty-three, is the first sovereign of Denmark to abdicate freely in almost nine hundred years. Thousands of people flocked to the palace where the royal succession was taking place, celebrating the Nordic country’s first royal succession in over fifty years that wasn’t brought about by a monarch’s passing.
At a meeting with the Danish Cabinet at the Christiansborg Palace, a large complex in Copenhagen that has served as the center of Danish power for generations, Margrethe signed her abdication while dressed in magenta. It now houses the Royal Reception Rooms and Royal Stables as well as the Danish Parliament, the prime minister’s office and the Supreme Court.
From the palace balcony, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen subsequently crowned Frederik king in front of thousands of subjects in a kingdom where the accouterments of royalty are largely symbolic in the contemporary era of constitutional democracy.
It is customary for Frederiksen to recite the proclamation three times, and Frederik stood next to her donning a ceremonial military dress embroidered with decorations. The throng then spontaneously chanted the national anthem as the newlywed Queen Mary, who was born in Australia, and the couple’s four children joined him on the balcony.
“My hope is to become a unifying king of tomorrow,” King Frederik said. “It is a task I have approached all my life.”
“I want to return the trust I meet,” newly crowned Frederik said. “I need trust from my beloved wife, you and that which is greater than us.”
It is the custom for each new sovereign to adopt a royal motto as a guiding principle for their reign, and Frederik declared his royal motto to be: “United, committed, for the kingdom of Denmark.”
Then, while church bells rang, they rode in a horse-drawn coach out of Christianborg Palace and made their way to their Amalienborg home, where they once more emerged in front of a sizable audience cheering and waving the flag of the country, which is a white cross on a red background.
Frederik was evidently moved as he thanked the audience by putting both hands on his heart.
There are now two queens in Denmark as a result of the abdication: Margrethe retains her title, while Frederik’s wife becomes Queen Mary. Christian, the eighteen-year-old son of Frederik and Mary, is now the crown prince and heir apparent to the throne.
Source: AP
