The discreet but popular Margrethe II of Denmark celebrated her 82nd birthday with her clan. On April 16, 2022, the Queen was able to pass this milestone from Marselisborg Castle, a royal estate which has served as the monarch’s summer residence since the late 1960s located in Aarhus, just over 3 hours away. from Copenhagen.
It was under a spring sun that Margrethe II – who ascended the throne in January 1972, becoming the second woman to reign over the country – was able to spend her birthday. The queen notably appeared on the balcony of her palace in good company! Indeed, we could see at his side his eldest son Frederik of Denmark, 50-year-old crown prince. He had come with his wife, the always very chic and also freshly fifty-something Princess Mary, and their four children Isabella, Vincent, Josephine and Christian; the latter, Prince of Denmark and Count of Monpezat, is second in line of succession to the throne after his father.
Missing from this beautiful family day was Prince Joachim of Denmark, victim of a stroke in 2020 and, unfortunately, the presence of Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, the late prince consort and husband of the queen, who died. in 2018. Despite everything, Margrethe II was in high spirits and with a smile on her face, waving her hands to the inhabitants gathered near the castle to see their sovereign. It must be said that it has great popularity in the kingdom. “The basis of this popularity is that the queen is not at all political, she unites the nation instead of dividing it. She managed to be a queen who united the Danish nation through many changes: globalization, the advent of a multicultural state, economic crises (…) and the Covid-19 pandemic“, relates the historian Lars Hovebakke Sørensen to AFP.
Despite her 82 years, Margrethe II – like Elizabeth II – does not intend to leave the place. “I will stay on the throne until I fall“, warned this inveterate smoker. There is also no tradition of abdication in the Scandinavian country of 5.8 million inhabitants.