Crown Prince Frederik & Mary looked happy at a NYE event after the abdication news

April 2024 · 7 minute read

Here are some photos from Denmark, where the Danish royals attended their annual New Year’s Eve dinner in Copenhagen. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary returned to Denmark just before Christmas, after spending a few weeks in Australia with Mary’s friends and family. My point is that they were back in Denmark for a full week before Queen Margrethe announced her abdication in a NYE speech. Who knows what influenced the queen’s decision, but she seemed to be getting her house in order for much of the past year and a half. That being said, almost everyone is focused on the timing, specifically the detailed reporting throughout the fall about Frederik’s alleged affair with Genoveva Casanova in Spain. The British “royal experts” are pretty convinced that Margrethe is abdicating to save her son’s marriage.

Prince Frederik was photographed by Lecturas, a Spanish magazine, strolling around Madrid with Genoveva Casanova in November, visiting a Picasso exhibition and reportedly sharing an intimate dinner. The magazine published photographs that it said showed the Crown Prince leaving Ms Casanova’s apartment the morning after the alleged dinner date. The Danish royals have not commented on the reports.

The unexpected abdication of the queen could be a deliberate tactic to propel her son into the role of king and to put his marriage to Crown Princess Mary on a new footing, royal experts said.

“It’s possible that the Queen took this action because she would have been terrified of the marriage breaking up and the royal family losing Mary. It would have caused major problems. The Queen has always seen Mary as a tremendous asset,” said Phil Dampier, an author and commentator who has reported on the Danish royals for more than 20 years.

“It just seems an extraordinary coincidence that she should make this unexpected announcement just a couple of months after stories emerged of the Crown Prince supposedly having an affair. In two weeks’ time, the Prince and Princess will be pitched together as King and Queen and they will have to get on with it. The Queen may be thinking that they will patch up their differences and it will save their marriage.”

The abdication of Queen Margrethe, who was Europe’s longest-serving monarch after coming to the throne on the death of her father King Frederick IX in 1972, was entirely unexpected. In the past she had indicated that, like Elizabeth II, she regarded the role as a job for life. As recently as 2016, she had rejected the possibility of abdication. “It’s always been: you stay as long as you live. That’s what my father did and my predecessors. And the way I see it too,” she said.

Many Danes had expected her to remain monarch until her death. “It came completely out of the blue. I think a lot of Danes are quite shocked by it,” said Mr Dampier. “The Queen seemed to be in reasonable health. She suffered from back pain but had recently had an operation so you would think that would enable her to carry on in the role. It seems strange that it happened so soon after the rumours of an affair. The prince was known as a playboy in his youth – maybe she worried that he was going back to his old ways.”

[From The Telegraph]

All of this really makes me wonder what has been going down between Fred and Mary in recent months – Mary took the kids out of school early so they could travel to Australia, Mary was photographed looking sad and alone in Oz, Fred traveled to Oz separately. Did Mary threaten to divorce him? Did they come back to Denmark before Christmas convinced that this would be their final holiday together? And Margrethe was like “no, we can’t have that?”

In any case, Mary put her game face back on for the NYE dinner – she looked happy and ready to be queen consort. Maybe the abdication was just what their marriage needed.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* Copenhagen, DENMARK – Danish Prince Frederik’s Aussie-born wife shines as the royal family turns out for the annual New Year’s dinner a day after reigning Queen Margrethe abdicated ‘to put her wayward son on the throne and save his marriage. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the entire Danish Royal family attended the annual New Year’s dinner and table for the government, the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, representatives of official Denmark, and the Court at Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik BACKGRID USA 1 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*

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