The Queen of Denmark announces that she will abdicate on January 14 after 52 years of reign

Danish Queen Margrethe II announced, during her traditional New Year’s speech on Sunday December 31, that she would abdicate on January 14, after 52 years of reign. “On January 14, 2024, 52 years after succeeding my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.”, she said during her televised wishes. Unifying and popular, the sovereign, widowed since 2018, had undergone major back surgery in February which prevented her from appearing in public until April. “The operation (…) gave rise to reflections on the future, on the question of whether it was time to transfer responsibilities to the next generation”confided the queen, aged 83.

On the throne since the death of her father in 1972, this polyglot intellectual contributed to gradually modernizing the monarchy. Since the death of her distant cousin Elizabeth II, Margrethe II is the last queen to reign in Europe. More than 80% of Danes identify as monarchists and they turned out in their thousands to celebrate his jubilee of 50 years of rule last year. “Many of us have never known another monarch. Queen Margrethe is the very embodiment of Denmark and, over the years, she has put words and feelings to who we are as a people and as a nation”reacted the Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, in a press release.