Europe’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, has pulled out of a number of official royal engagements and cancelled a private holiday due to ongoing health issues.
The news was confirmed by the Danish Royal Court earlier this week: ”Her Majesty The Queen Has cancelled her private stay in Norway due to problems with her back. It also means that the Crown Prince was in charge of today’s public audience at Christiansborg Palace.”
The Queen has enjoyed a historically close relationship with Norway across her lifetime, the now 82-year-old traveling to Gausdal for two weeks every winter.
Given the trip has now been cancelled, her son Prince Joachim will no longer be acting as regent in her stead.
However, in the most recent update from the Danish royal family, it seems that Joachim may be needed yet.
Queen Margrethe is set to turn 83 in April, 2023.
(IMAGE: Getty)”For quite some time, Her Majesty has been affected by problems with her back, and the situation has worsened recently. After consultation with Rigshospitalet’s specialists, The Queen has decided to undergo extensive surgery.
”The operation planned for Wednesday, 22nd February at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, where The Queen will thus also be hospitalised afterwards. Consequently, a longer sentence of physical rehabilitation is expected.
”The means that Her Majesty’s official program in the near future will be postponed, cancelled or handled by other members of the royal family.”
Rumours are swirling that Queen Margrethe may step down from the throne amidst ongoing health concerns.
(IMAGE: Getty)Unlike their father, Prince Joachim’s children with first wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, Felix, 20, and Nikolai, 23 and with second (and current) wife Princess Marie, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 11 do not bear royal titles.
In September 2022, the Queen stripped her four grandchildren through her youngest son Joachim of their His/Her Royal Highness titles.
They will be allowed to continue to use their titles as counts and countess of Monpezat and retain their places in the Danish line of succession.
However, the Queen wants the children “to shape their own lives” outside of the royal family and the expectations that come with a HRH title.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II with (L-R) Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim, (bottom row L-R), Princess Athena and Prince Henrik.
(IMAGE: Getty)“Her Majesty has decided that, as of 1 January 2023, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim’s descendants can only use their titles as counts and countess of Monpezat, as the titles of prince and princess that they have held up until now will be discontinued,” the Danish royal household said in a statement.
It noted that Prince Joachim’s descendants will be referred to as “excellencies” in the future and that the change is “in line with similar adjustments that other royal houses have made” recently.
The Swedish royal family made similar changes in 2019, when King Carl XVI Gustaf revoked the royal status of five of his grandchildren.
Australia’s own Princess Mary may soon be Queen alongside husband and heir apparent to the Danish throne Prince Frederik.
(IMAGE: Instagram/Keld Nameoft, Danish Royal House)“With her decision, Her Majesty The Queen wishes to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves,” it concluded.
It is unclear whether Queen Margarethe will step down from her position as monarch due to her ongoing health issues and hand over the royal reins to her eldest son and heir apparent Prince Frederik and wife Princess Mary.
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