This news came like a bang! On September 28, 2022, the Danish court surprisingly announced that Prince Joachim’s children would lose their royal titles. In the evening, the queen commented on this – and behind the scenes, discontent within the family is simmering.
Like the Swedish royal family, Queen Margrethe is committed to streamlining the monarchy. But while the consequences were outwardly in agreement in the neighboring country, the Danish royals seem to be cracking up. The four children of Prince Joachim, 53, may no longer bear the title of prince or princess from January 2023, as the court announced on September 28. The magazine “Se og Hör” suspects that this decision will further widen the gap between Queen Margrethe’s sons and their families.
Queen Margrethe: Do your uncomfortable measures also separate the royal offspring?
It has long been noticeable that Prince Frederik, 54, and his younger brother seem to have lost touch with each other. They have rarely been seen together in recent months, except for official appearances. According to the illustrated magazine, Joachim’s children will have greater freedom and will therefore hardly have anything in common with their cousins, the children of the couple heir to the throne. Prince Christian will stick to his siblings rather than his cousins.
Shocked statement from Countess Alexandra
The Queen’s decision has apparently sparked resentment within the family. Her youngest and his wife Princess Marie, 46, and his ex-wife Countess Alexandra von Frederiksborg, 58, were not very enthusiastic about Margrethe’s reorganization. “We are all amazed by this decision,” said Alexandra in a first statement to the tabloid “BT”, and further: “We are sad and in shock. It comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel left out. They can’t understand why their identities are being taken away from them.”
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Her spokeswoman Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen added the statement at the request of the tabloid “Ekstra Bladet”: “The countess and her sons have known for a very short time and it affects them very much on a human level. They don’t understand why they are losing their titles right now They always knew that the day they got married they would lose her. But then it would happen on a happy day. Now it’s out of the blue.” The court’s argument that Prince Joachim’s children should be given more freedom does not convince them: “They will always have the sense of duty they grew up with. Whatever one of them does will always reflect on the family.”
Queen Margrethe says so
In the magazine, court expert Jakob Steen Olsen advises the queen to resolve this crisis within the family as soon as possible, otherwise she would risk her credibility. Queen Margrethe attended an event at the National Museum a few hours after the Court’s press release was released. The TV2 reporter asked her the reason for her decision. “I’ve thought about it for a long time and I think it will be good for them in the future,” she explained.
Danish press expects conflict
Jacob Heinel Jensen, the “BT” court expert, expects a serious family crisis in the royal family: “This branch of the family has been liquidated for several years, and now the children are being sent into the desert. Prince Joachim is being fired as a royal,” he argued .
Court expert Steen Olsen counters that the decision is an “unnecessary humiliation” for Joachim’s family. The children would not receive any appanage anyway, so there was no need to take away their titles. Another expert, Sören Jakobsen, finds Prince Nikolai, 23, hardest hit. Joachim’s eldest has built a modeling career with his name. It applies to all children that no doors will open for them because of their titles.
Prince Christian’s siblings are not affected by the decision, which is surprising. Princess Isabella, 15, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, both 11, like their cousins Nikolai, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, do not receive an allowance, but: “Frederik’s children belong as children of the coming regent to the root of the royal family. And at the moment you can’t know what the distribution of tasks will look like in the future. Maybe they will be stripped of their titles at some point,” said Olsen.
Incidentally, the Queen’s decision was hardly made by her alone, according to the editor-in-chief of “Se og Hör”. He is sure that Frederik and Mary will support them. In the future, Joachim will have to be very careful about which of his tasks he continues to carry out if he wants to keep his appanage. The journalist paints a dark picture of the upheavals within the monarchy as a struggle for power.
Paris or Denmark? Joachim and Marie are faced with a decision
How will Joachim and Marie proceed now? “It’s not always the case that we can determine everything,” the 46-year-old had interrupted her husband during an interview for “Billed Bladet” in July 2020 at Cayx Castle, who had just made his career change from a farmer in the tranquil Danish Mögeltönder to the defense attaché spoke in Paris. Even when the magazines asked her about it several times, she did not want to explain in more detail what she meant by her statement. “No, but the fact is that we can’t always decide for ourselves. I think that’s important to know.” Even then, it sounded like cryptically packaged references to smoldering resentment.
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When the press asked Joachim in mid-October 2019 for an initial comment after moving to the French capital, where he initially undertook further training at the “École Militaire”, he said indignantly: “I was very strongly encouraged to do that . Also by the Queen.” Now the couple seems to have been surprised again by Her Majesty’s decision. As Prince Joachim assured, he was only confronted five days before a corresponding press release on September 28 that his four children would lose their prince and princess titles in a few months.
Actually, Joachim’s family was only supposed to stay in Paris for a year while the prince completed his military training. Then, in the summer of 2020, the royal family announced that the couple would not be returning to Denmark with their two children after graduation. From September he was employed as a defense attaché in Paris and was to act as a liaison between the French and Danish defenses. The prince’s employment will run for three years – i.e. until the end of summer 2023 – with the option of extension. Then, in October 2021, the royal family announced that French-born Princess Marie had been hired as a special representative for culture at the culture department of the Danish embassy in Paris. This was part of a new initiative to strengthen Danish culture and cooperation.
After the announcement by the royal family about the changed titles of Prince Joachim’s children, the question is now increasing as to whether the royal family will return to Denmark next summer as planned – or whether they will continue to live in Paris. After all, the couple has now built an existence there. It remains exciting in the royal family of Denmark. Only one thing is certain: Queen Margrethe holds the scepter firmly in her hand!
Sources used: seoghoer.dk, bt.dk, ekstrabladet.dk, tv2.dk, billedbladet.dk