Key Points
- Denmark's Queen Margrethe announced her abdication on New Year's Eve.
- Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian born-wife Princess Mary will become King and Queen on 14 January.
- Historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen says the couple are "modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports".
Crown Princess Mary will become the world's first Australian-born Queen with the abdication of Queen Margrethe II in two weeks.
The 83-year-old Queen made the surprise announcement she will formally step down from the Danish throne after 52 years during her annual New Year's Eve televised address.
She revealed her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, married to Princess Mary, will succeed her when she abdicates on 14 January.
The popular monarch cited age and health reasons as part of her decision, after undergoing back surgery in February.
"The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future - whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation," she said during the Danish broadcast.
"I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as Queen of Denmark."
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascended to the throne in 1972, making her Europe's longest serving monarch. Source: AFP / Mads Claus Rasmussen
"I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik," she said.
Europe's first Australian-born Queen
Prince Frederik's ascension will be announced from Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen on 14 January, with Princess Mary to become Denmark's Queen.
He met his wife Mary Donaldson, a Tasmanian-born lawyer, in a Sydney bar during the 2000 Olympic Games.
Now, married for 19 years and proud parents to four children, Mary has won her adopted country over with her dedication to royal duty.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will become King and Queen on 14 January. Source: Getty / Patrick van Katwijk
Mary was in Sydney in April 2023 to discuss Australia's "green transition" and visited a number of Danish-led projects related to sustainable construction and transportation.
The couple have gradually taken on many royal duties in recent years as the queen entered her eighties, "but very slowly and depending on the queen's health", said historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen.
The couple are "modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports", he added.
They "do not represent a potential revolution compared to the queen", but a careful transition adapting to the times, he said.
Frederik has said that he sees himself complementing his mother, a polymath who is an accomplished writer and artist.
"You paint, I exercise. You dig for buried objects from the past, I buried my head in order not to be recognised during my time in the armed forces. You are a master of words. I am sometimes at a loss for them," he joked during the Queen's jubilee celebrations.
Born in 1940, Margrethe has throughout her life enjoyed broad support from Danes, who are fond of her tactful yet creative personality.
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen thanked the Queen for her long life dedication to duty.
"It is still difficult to understand that the time has now come for a change of throne," Frederiksen said in a statement.
"Queen Margrethe is the epitome of Denmark and throughout the years has put words and feelings into who we are as a people and as a nation," she said.
