Who is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark?

Princess Margrethe was born 16 April 1940 at Frederik VIII's Palace, her parents
residence at the Amalienborg palace complex, the principal residence of the
Danish royal family in the district of Frederiksstaden in central Copenhagen. 

Foto: Steen Brogaard, Kongehuset

Family

She was the first child of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess
(later King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid). Her father was the elder son of
the then-reigning King Christian X, while her mother was the only daughter
of the Crown Prince of Sweden (later King Gustaf VI Adolf). Her birth took
place just one week after Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940.

Margrethe was baptised on 14 May in the Holmen Church in Copenhagen.
The Princess's godparents were: 

King Christian X (paternal grandfather);
Hereditary Prince Knud (paternal uncle);
Prince Axel (her paternal grandfather's first cousin);
King Gustaf V of Sweden (maternal great-grandfather);
Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (maternal grandfather);
Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (her maternal uncle);
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (maternal great-grandfather).

She was named Margrethe after her late maternal grandmother,
Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Alexandrine after her paternal grandmother,
Queen Alexandrine, and Ingrid after her mother. Since her paternal grandfather
was also the King of Iceland, she was given the Icelandic name Þórhildur.

When Margrethe was four years old, in 1944, her younger sister Princess Benedikte
was born. Princess Benedikte later married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-
Berleburg and lives now some of the time in Germany. Her second sister,
Princess Anne-Marie, was born in 1946. Anne-Marie later married
King Constantine II of the Hellenes and currently lives in Greece.

Margrethe and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederick VIII's Palace
at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and in Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand.
She spent summer holidays with the royal family in her parent's summer
residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. 

On 20 April 1947, King Christian X died and Margrethe's father
ascended the throne as King Frederick IX. Margrethe is known affectionately
as "Daisy".

When she was born, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark,
owing to the changes in succession laws enacted in the 1850s when the
Glücksburg branch was chosen to succeed. As Margrethe had no brothers,
it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne.

The process of changing the constitution started in 1947, not long after
Margrethe’s father ascended the throne and it became clear that Queen Ingrid
would have no more children. The popularity of Frederick and his daughters
and the more prominent role of women in Danish life started the complicated
process of altering the constitution. The law required that the proposal be
passed by two successive Parliaments and then by a referendum, which
occurred 27 March 1953. The new Act of Succession permitted female
succession to the throne of Denmark, according to male-preference
cognatic primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne only
if she does not have a brother. Princess Margrethe therefore became heir
presumptive.

On her eighteenth birthday, 16 April 1958, Margrethe was given a
seat in the Council of State. She subsequently chaired the meetings of
the Council in the absence of the King.

In 1960, together with the princesses of Sweden and Norway,
she travelled to the United States, which included a visit to Los Angeles,
and to the Paramount Studios, where they met several celebrities,
including Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley.

Education

Margrethe was educated at the private school N. Zahle's School in Copenhagen,
from which she graduated in 1959. She spent a year at North Foreland Lodge,
a boarding school for girls in Hampshire, England,and later studied prehistoric
archaeology at Girton College, Cambridge, during 1960–1961,
political science at Aarhus University between 1961 and 1962,
attended the Sorbonne in 1963, and was at the London School
of Economics in 1965.She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Margrethe is fluent in Danish, French, English, Swedish and German,
and has a limited knowledge of Faroese as well.

Love and Marriage

Princess Margrethe married a French diplomat, Henri de Laborde de Monpezat,
on June 10, 1967, at the Holmen Church in Copenhagen. Laborde de Monpezat
received the style and title of "His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark" 

Margrethe gave birth to her first child on 26 May 1968. By tradition,
Danish kings were alternately named either Frederik or Christian. She chose
to maintain this by assuming the position of a Christian, and thus named
her eldest son Frederik. A second child, named Joachim, was born on 7 June 1969.

Queen of Denmark

Shortly after King Frederick IX delivered his New Year's Address to the
Nation at the 1971/72 turn of the year, he fell ill. At his death 14 days later,
14 January 1972, Margrethe succeeded to the throne at the age of 31,
becoming the first female Danish sovereign under the new Act of Succession. 

She was proclaimed Queen from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace 15 January 1972
by Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag. Queen Margrethe II relinquished all the
monarch's former titles except the title to Denmark, hence her style 

"By the Grace of God, Queen of Denmark" (Danish: Margrethe den Anden,
af Guds Nåde Danmarks Dronning). The Queen chose the motto:
God's help, the love of The People, Denmark's strength.

In her first address to the people, Queen Margrethe II said:

My beloved father, our King, is dead. The task that my father had carried
for nearly 25 years is now resting on my shoulders. I pray to God to give me
help and strength to carry the heavy heritage. May the trust that was given to
my father also be granted to me.

On her accession, Queen Margrethe II became the first female monarch of
Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375‒1412,
during the Kalmar Union.

Duty

The Queen's main tasks are to represent the Kingdom abroad and
to be a unifying figure at home. The Queen performs the latter task by
accepting invitations to open exhibitions, attending anniversaries,
inaugurating bridges, etc. She receives foreign ambassadors and awards
honours and medals.

As an unelected public official, the Queen takes no part in party politics
and does not express any political opinions. Although she has the right to
vote, she opts not to do so to avoid even the appearance of partisanship.

The Queen holds a meeting with the prime minister and the foreign
affairs minister every Wednesday, unless she or the prime minister is
outside of the kingdom.

After an election where the incumbent prime minister does not
have a majority behind him or her, the Queen holds a "Dronningerunde"
(Queen's meeting) in which she meets the chairmen of each of the
Danish political parties. In practice, however, nearly all of the Queen's
formal powers are exercised by the Cabinet of Denmark.

In addition to her roles in her own country, the Queen is also the
colonel-in-chief of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
(Queen's and Royal Hampshires), an infantry regiment of the British
Army, following a tradition in her family

Good to know

The official residences of the Queen are Amalienborg Palace in
Copenhagen and Fredensborg Palace. Her summer residences are
Marselisborg Palace near Aarhus and Gråsten Palace near Sønderborg,
the former home of her mother, Queen Ingrid, who died in 2000.

Margrethe is an accomplished painter and has held many art shows over the 

years. Her illustrations—under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer—were 

used for Danish editions of The Lord of the Rings, which she was encouraged 

to illustrate in the early 1970s.

She sent them to J. R. R. Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity of her 

drawings to his own style. Margrethe's drawings 

were redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser for the Folio Society's English 

edition of The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1977 and reissued in 

2002. In 2000, she illustrated Prince Henrik's poetry collection Cantabile. 

Another skill she possesses is costume designing, having designed the 

costumes for the Royal Danish Ballet's production of A Folk Tale and for the 

2009 Peter Flinth film, De vilde svaner (The Wild Swans).

She also designs her own clothes and is known for her colourful and 

sometimes eccentric clothing choices. Margrethe also wears designs by 

former Pierre Balmain designer Erik Mortensen, Jørgen Bender, and 

Birgitte Taulow.The Guardian in March 2013 listed 

her as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s.

Margrethe is a chain smoker and is well known for her tobacco habit.
However, on 23 November 2006, the Danish newspaper B.T. reported an
announcement from the Royal Court stating that in the future the Queen 

would smoke only in private.

A golden jubilee

The Queen's Golden Jubilee is planned for 2022 although postponed due to
the covid pandemic.

A royal descendant of queen Victoria

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is a royal descendant of Queen Victoria

via Prince Arthur, Duke of Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, 

Margaret, Crown Princess of Sweden;

and Princess Ingrid of Sweden (Margethe's mother). 

More on this link. 

Abdication

On 31 December 2023, during her New Year's Eve speech, she
announced her abdication, which will take place on 14 January 2024.
She will be succeeded by her elder son Crown Prince Frederik.

Conclusion

To be honest: I always adored this quirky Queen.  I hope the festivities in 
2022 can go trough later this year to put her in the picture. 

Although the announcement of her abdication came quit as a shock for me,
I hope there will be plenty of celebrations for her, her reign and the accession
of the throne of Frederik as King Frederik X. 

Source pictures: Wikipedia