Denmark’s Frederik X Ascends to Kingship as Queen Margrethe Abdicates

Copenhagen, The Gulf Observer: The hugely popular chain-smoking Queen Margrethe II, 83, left her residence at Copenhagen’s Amalienborg Palace shortly after 1:30pm for a short carriage ride to Christiansborg Palace, the seat of government and parliament.

There, at a Council of State at 2pm, she signed a declaration of abdication ending her 52-year reign, only the second time a Danish sovereign has stepped down, the last one Erik III almost nine centuries ago in 1146.

Her 55-year-old son Frederik – who also attended the Council of State along with his Australian-born wife Mary and their eldest child, 18-year-old Prince Christian – automatically became king and head of state upon Margrethe’s abdication.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen then proclaimed him King Frederik X on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace.

“The balcony serves only this purpose,” joked historian Lars Hovbakke Sorensen in an interview with AFP.

“The last time, in 1972 (when Margrethe became queen after the death of her father), there were more than 10,000 people on the square below. We’re expecting more this time,” he said.

Police expected at least 10 times that in the streets of the capital.

“It’s impossible to say how many but I think there will be more than 100,000 people,” Copenhagen police official Peter Dahl told AFP, adding that police reinforcements had been called in from across the country.

Hotels and rail and airline tickets have been fully booked since the queen dropped her bombshell abdication announcement in her annual televised New Year’s Eve address.

Aske Julius, a 27-year-old Copenhagen resident, said Saturday he hoped to get a good spot to see the proclamation of the new king.

“More than half of the Danish population has never known anything else but the queen,” he said. “She’s really the embodiment of Denmark … the soul of the nation.”

Apart from the abdication, the protocol is largely similar to previous royal successions in Denmark.

No foreign dignitaries or royals are invited, and there is no coronation or throne for the new monarch.

Margrethe chose to abdicate exactly 52 years to the day after she took over from her father, Frederik IX.

“There’s a lot of symbolism around this day,” Cecilie Nielsen, royal correspondent for Danish public broadcaster DR, told AFP.

The queen’s abdication announcement stunned Danes, after she had repeatedly insisted she would follow tradition and reign until her death.

Even her own family was only informed three days prior.

She attributed her decision to health issues after undergoing major back surgery last year.

Opinion polls show that more than 80 percent of Danes support her decision.

Margrethe will retain her title of queen and may represent the royal family on occasion.