Who is Crown Prince Frederik, Denmark’s king-in-waiting? | Politics News

In two weeks, Crown Prince Frederik is predicted to turn out to be the king of Denmark after his mom, Queen Margrethe, made a surprise announcement that she is abdicating the throne.

Queen Margrethe is the world’s solely currently-reigning feminine monarch and handed on the throne to her eldest son Frederik, throughout her annual New 12 months’s handle.

January 14 will mark the completion of 52 years of Margrethe’s rule, the day when Frederik additionally turns into king. Right here’s what to know in regards to the crown prince.

Who’s Crown Prince Frederik?

Crown Prince Frederik, 55, was born to Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has one sibling – youthful brother Prince Joachim.

Frederik is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (also called the Danish Nationwide Church), a requirement for the Danish royal household, significantly for reigning monarchs.

He has been seen as a rebellious teen turned “woke” household man, identified for his love for a high-paced life-style and vehicles.

“He was not strictly talking a insurgent, however as a toddler and younger man, he was very uncomfortable with the media consideration and the data that he was going to be king,” Gitte Redder, an skilled on the Danish royal household, advised the AFP information company.

He solely “gained confidence in his mid-20s”, she mentioned. Frederik’s repute as a celebration prince additionally began to clear after he grew to become the primary Danish royal to have accomplished a college schooling.

The place did Prince Frederik examine?

He obtained his major schooling at Krebs’ Skole in Copenhagen and later went to the Ecole des Roches, a boarding faculty in Normandy, France.

In 1986, he began research for a political science diploma at Aarhus College, which included a yr spent at Harvard College, underneath the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen – a nod to his father.

Frederik graduated with a grasp’s in political science from the college in 1995. He speaks English, German, and French.

What has Prince Frederick finished after his research?

He has beforehand skilled within the three branches of Denmark’s navy and likewise served within the navy’s Frogmen Corps. He was one in all solely 4 of the 300 recruits to move all the assessments in 1995 and was nicknamed “Pingo” (Penguin).

Frederik can also be an avid skier who even took half in a four-month, 3,500km (2,175-mile) ski expedition throughout Greenland in 2000.

“He’s a sportsman, he attends live shows and soccer matches, which makes him much more accessible than his mom,” mentioned Redder.

In recent times, Frederik and his spouse have additionally taken up extra royal duties, particularly owing to the queen’s well being.

The couple are “trendy, woke, lovers of pop music, trendy artwork and sports activities”, historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen advised AFP.

Who’s his spouse, Crown Princess Mary?

Frederik married Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, an Australian, in 2004.

Crown Princess Mary, 51, was raised on the island of Tasmania. She didn’t know Frederik was a prince when the 2 met at a bar through the 2000 Olympic Video games in Sydney.

Mary has beforehand labored as a lawyer and advertising and marketing marketing consultant.

What sort of energy will Prince Frederik have as king?

Like his mom, Prince Frederik is predicted to have little involvement in partisan politics. His function can be ceremonial, primarily involving state visits and nationwide day celebrations.

Frederik will reign as king over Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Nonetheless, the formal energy will stay with the elected parliament and Denmark’s authorities.

On the day of his ascension, an announcement can be created from Amalienborg Fort in Copenhagen. There can be no formal crowning ceremony.

Denmark has Europe’s oldest ruling monarchy, which traces its line again to the Viking King Gorm the Previous, who died in 958.

Denmark’s monarchy has transitioned from elective to hereditary and at last its present kind – a constitutional monarchy.

Who’s subsequent in line after Crown Prince Frederik?

Subsequent in line after Frederik is his eldest son, Prince Christian, who was born in 2005 and turned 18 in 2023.

Frederik and his spouse have 4 kids who’ve principally studied at state colleges.

Why did Queen Margrethe abdicate?

Queen Margrethe recommended that she began to consider stepping down after a again surgical procedure in February 2023.

“The surgical procedure naturally gave rise to fascinated with the long run – whether or not the time had come to depart the accountability to the subsequent technology,” she mentioned within the speech on Sunday.

Margrethe grew to become queen on the age of 31, in 1972, after the loss of life of her father, King Frederik IX.

Her ascension adopted a constitutional modification in 1953 that allowed ladies to inherit the throne.