Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II celebrated her 83rd birthday on Sunday (April 16). The monarch appeared on the balcony of Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. She had the entire royal family around her. According to Danish media reports, the queen first stepped out onto the balcony, where she waved to the people who had come to the castle to celebrate her – not just because it’s her birthday: Queen Margrethe now officially has her function as a regent reinstated. After Margrethe, the Queen’s sons, Crown Prince Frederik (54) and Prince Joachim (53), as well as Crown Princess Mary (51) and Princess Marie (47) stepped onto the balcony with their children.
It is the first time the entire royal family has appeared in public together after the Queen stripped Prince Joachim’s children of their titles as princes and princesses last year, according to several Danish media reports. In a press release, the Danish royal family announced that their children would only be called the Count or Countess of Monpezat from the turn of the year. From January 1, 2023, they will bear the title “Excellencies” and no longer “Royal Highnesses”. The decision is said to have caused conflict within the royal family.
It is also said to be the first time in five years that the Queen has celebrated her birthday at Amalienborg Palace. Last year, as in 2019, she stayed at her summer residence Marselisborg in Aarhus. In 2020 and 2021 it was not possible to wave to a large crowd due to the Corona pandemic.
In the future, it will be more difficult to get the entire royal family together. In March it was announced that Prince Joachim would turn his back on Europe. The son of Queen Margrethe II and his wife Princess Marie are moving to the USA with their family, more precisely to the capital Washington, D.C. The Danish royal family announced this in a statement that was published in an Instagram post, among other things.
“On September 1, 2023, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will take up a new position in the Ministry of Defense as Defense Industry Attaché at the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C.,” the statement said. There the prince is to contribute “as Denmark’s representative in the coming years to strengthening the defense industry in cooperation with the USA and Canada”.
Four years ago, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, who have been married since 2008, moved to France along with the couple’s two children, according to the statement. The family has lived in Paris, Marie’s birthplace, since the summer of 2019, where the couple worked for the Danish embassy. Moving to Washington, D.C. should take place in the summer of 2023. The two have two children together, Henrik, born in 2009, and Athena, born in 2012. Joachim also has two sons, Nikolai (23) and Felix (20), from a previous marriage to former Princess Alexandra (58).
