In order to “future-proof” the monarchy, Queen Margrethe decided to deprive four of her eight grandchildren of their royal titles. This decision has caused a breach in the Danish royal family.
The 82-year-old monarch, who this year marked 50 years on the throne, declared on Thursday that beginning in 2017, her younger son, Prince Joachim, and his children will no longer be addressed as prince and princess.
According to a statement from the Danish royal household, the move is being made to allow the junior royals to lead more typical lives and is in line with other royal families’ decisions to reduce the size of the monarchy.
According to the release, the Queen’s choice “is consistent with comparable adjustments that other royal houses have recently made in a variety of ways.
“With her decision, Her Majesty The Queen wishes to lay the foundation for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being constrained by the special considerations and responsibilities that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves,” said a statement from the palace.
The second son of the Queen, Joachim, resides in Paris with his wife, Princess Marie, and their two kids, Henrik, age 13, and Athena, age 10. The prince’s older sons from his previous marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, are Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20.
The royal household announced that their HRH titles will be “discontinued,” adding that future correspondence with Prince Joachim’s progeny will require them to be addressed as excellencies.
The four children of Joachim will remain in their respective positions in the succession.
Countess Alexandra’s press secretary, Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, stated over the phone to CNN that the countess was “extremely sorry and in shock.”
“There is no good justification, therefore she finds it hard to believe why and why now. When they eventually get married, they would be stripped of their titles anyhow. Since her kids are young men who may soon get married, why not wait until that time so that the titles would vanish on a joyous occasion?
The palace stated that the most recent development was a “natural continuation” of prior efforts to reduce the size of the monarchy, adding: “In April 2008, Her Majesty The Queen granted the titles of count and countess of Monpezat upon her sons, their spouses, and their grandchildren. The sole grandchild of The Queen, His Royal Highness Prince Christian, was informed that the state would be providing him with an annuity when he reached adulthood in May 2016.
Crown Prince Frederik, Joachim’s older brother, is the heir apparent. Prince Christian, his oldest child, is the next in line. The titles of Frederik’s four children are all still in effect.
By email, Countess Alexandra informed CNN that Von Wildenrath Lvgreen has been given permission to speak on her behalf as well as those of Joachim and Marie.
They were informed by their father, according to Von Wildenrath Lvgreen. They were somewhat stunned.
He is a true man of honour. He has always had that rank in his family, so when one of the European tabloids spoke to him in Paris this morning, he was astonished and on the verge of tears.
She added: “Prince Joachim was warned back in May that they might withdraw their titles when they age 25 and then he didn’t hear any more until a few days ago. The children only found out about the change in their titles recently.”
The rebranding, according to von Wildenrath Lvgreen, is just a formality because Joachim’s children do not receive any funding from the government.
“It’s simply their loss of identity, and it’s very difficult for young men and children. What will they write in my passport today, as Prince Nikolai asked me?
Since the revelation, the four kids have not spoken to their grandmother, according to her.
She said, “They will never obtain a regular existence,” in response to the palace’s argument that doing this will allow the children to live more normally. If they do something extremely stupid, the family will always pay for it.
The decision has been long in coming, as Her Majesty The Queen announced yesterday, according to Lene Balleby, director of communications for the royal family. Throughout the process, the Queen’s decision has taken on numerous shapes, but Prince Joachim has been kept informed and involved since May 5. We fully appreciate that there are a lot of mixed feelings right now, but we hope that The Queen’s wish to safeguard the Royal House of Denmark in the future will be recognised.
It’s not the first time that the family has encountered contentious titles. The Queen’s husband, Prince Henrik, said he did not want to be buried in a plot intended for his wife at Roskilde Cathedral, because he had not been given the title of king.
The French-born prince, who passed away in 2018, had been dissatisfied with his title ever since the pair married in 1967 and he was given the title of prince consort rather than king consort.