Who Is Queen Margrethe II Of Denmark? All About The World’s Longest-Serving Monarch

After a reign of 52 years, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, the world’s longest-serving monarch announced that she would hand over the throne to her son.

The queen, 83, cited deteriorating health for her decision. She will formally step down on January 14, leaving the throne to her oldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik. 

Margrethe was born on April 16, 1940. She is the first of three daughters of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid. Her birth at the royal place in Copenhagen came one week after Nazi Germany attacked and occupied Denmark. 

Between 1960 and 1965, Crown Princess Margrethe studied at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the Sorbonne, completing archaeology and political science courses.

Margrethe had said that she would have been torn between becoming an archaeologist or an artist had she not been a monarch.

Margrethe II ascended the throne in 1972 after her father's death and balanced her work as an artist with her royal duties. 

After Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, Queen Margrethe became one of the world’s longest-ruling monarchs. The two sovereigns were close friends as well as distant cousins.

Queen Margrethe is known for her sharp wit and artistic abilities. She supported Europe’s oldest monarchy through a half-century during which Denmark underwent sweeping societal changes, and royal houses elsewhere in Europe became mired in scandal.

In 2022, she stripped four of her grandchildren of their royal titles in a streamlining move.

In 2023, Margrethe II became the longest-sitting ruler in 1,200 years of the Danish monarchy.

In 1967, Margrethe II married Henri Marie Jean Andre, a French count who had grown up in Vietnam. He took the Danish name, Prince Consort Henrik. They have two sons. Crown Prince Frederik, who was born in 1968, and Prince Joachim the year after. 

Margrethe faced her biggest public crisis in the last years of her marriage as Henrik complained about his role, citing that he should have been given the title of king. In 2017, he said he didn’t want to be buried with his wife in the Roskilde Cathedral. However, in the same year, the royal court issued a statement saying the prince suffered from dementia. 

Margrethe II is fluent in Danish, German, English, French and Swedish. Her work as an artist spans paintings, book illustrations, theatre costume designs and church textiles.

Her works have been displayed in more than 50 museums from Tokyo to Washington. Although Margrethe was the first woman to rule Denmark in 560 years, she refused to vocally promote gender equality, causing disappointment among some members of Danish women’s rights groups.

The queen has suffered from back and knee pain in recent years. After undergoing back surgery in 2023, she quit a heavy smoking habit, which had lasted 66 years and often was a subject of debate.

The queen said her decision to abdicate was spurred by the back surgery, which made her think about handing over the responsibility to the next generation.