Margrethe II of Denmark Turns 74

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark celebrates her 74th birthday today. The ever-popular Danish Monarch was born at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen in 1940, the eldest child of then-Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark.

The infant Princess was baptised at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen on May 14, 1940 with the names Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid. Among her godparents were her paternal grandfather, King Christian X of Denmark, her father’s brother, Prince Knud of Denmark, and her maternal great-grandfather, King Gustaf V of Sweden. Margrethe has two younger siblings: Princess Benedikte, born in 1944, and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, born in 1946.

In April 1947, her grandfather died and he was succeeded by Margrethe’s father, the new King Frederik IX. Following a referendum in 1953, the Danish Act of Succession was amended to allow females in the line of succession, prior to this females were debarred from inheriting the throne. As King Frederik IX had three daughters and no male heirs, Princess Margrethe became the heir presumptive, placing her uncle, Hereditary Prince Knud, and his sons to behind Margrethe and her sisters in the line of succession.

In June 1967, Princess Margrethe married the French-born Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat at the Church of Holmen. The couple have two sons: Crown Prince Frederik,  born in May 1968, followed by Prince Joachim in June 1969. On January 14, 1972, King Frederik IX died following a short illness, and Margarethe succeeded him as Queen of Denmark. Both of the Queen’s sisters married – Princess Anne-Marie in 1964 to King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Benedikte in 1968 to Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. In November 2000, their beloved mother, Queen Ingrid, died in her 90th year at Fredensborg Palace.

In 1995, Prince Joachim married Alexandra Manley, the couple have two sons, Princes Nikolai and Felix, however the marriage ended in divorce in 2005. Crown Prince Frederik married Australian-born Mary Donaldson in May 2004 and the couple have four children – Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine. In May 2008, Joachim married for a second time to the French-born Marie Cavallier and had two children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena.

Queen Margrethe II celebrated her Ruby Jubilee, or 40th year on the throne, in January 2012. The Queen is well known for her love of art and costume designing, Her Majesty is also a chain smoker. Over the years on her birthday it has become a tradition for the Queen and Danish Royal Family to appear on the balcony of Christian IX’s Palace at Amalienborg Palace to greet the crowds who gathered to celebrate the Monarch’s birthday!

This year, the celebrations took place at Marselisborg Palace, where the family is gathered to celebrate Easter.

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Biography, Birthday, Margrethe II of Denmark.

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