Prince Henrik: "I Should Be King" Discussion

[crm2317]

I feel mortified for the Queen watching that video. Henrik needs to educate himself. Not all queens in history have made their husbands king consorts as he claims.

[ladongas]

They've been married a long time; she's probably used to his schtick and pays it little mind! With some exceptions, it's hard to teach an old (royal) dog new tricks. At least his comments don't make anyone but himself look foolish.

[Roskilde]

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

I actually began to like him a little bit, but when he turned 80, I saw the interviews with him. And he was equally childish and controlling as before. He was a bad father and after what I have seen in documentaries, a bad grandfather too. I've seen and read so many documentaries / books about this family and nothing surprises me with this man.

It was embarrassing, stupid and total lack of situational sense. Indeed. As I also has stated in my posts. But reading this thread I also think we should be careful not to make Henrik into a completely big awful man. I mean a bad grandfather? I don't think Christian and Isabella agree with you on that

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[ROYAL NORWAY]

Originally Posted by Roskilde

It was embarrassing, stupid and total lack of situational sense. Indeed. As I also has stated in my posts. But reading this thread I also think we should be careful not to make Henrik into a completely big awful man. I mean a bad grandfather? I don't think Christian and Isabella agree with you on that

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I've seen some of these and other images like this before. And I know that the grandchildren is fond of him, but I've seen him with them in documentaries and I found him very controling.

[Ana Von Cleves]

I have only read a page or two of the thread, so forgive me if this has already been addressed.


It seems to me that Henrik has always had an issue with his status and "place" in the Danish royal family. If I remember correctly, we went through something similar in the 1980's when P Frederick came of age.


There were tales of Henri's depression and his resentment that his son would now outshine the father as the heir. That Frederick would get the good assignments, etc.


To me, it all speaks of a very insecure man. And at this point, I wonder if his age might have something to do with it as well. My own father is a few years older than he and Dad is getting very easy to set off.


Prince Henrik is 80 I believe. That is elderly and the elderly have their own set of insecurities, not the least is "am I still needed", "does my opinion count for anything" "the younger generation are replacing me".


Forgive my rambling, I think what I am saying is, lets cut the old boy some slack. With our sets of increasingly elderly royals, we are likely to see and hear a few good outbursts before they retire from sight entirely.

[Duc_et_Pair]

It is all a bit overdone. Like I showed in post #80 in this thread, you can see the video and the remarks were just a detail in the interview and it was all not that heavy-handed.

By the way, in the Netherlands also Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven (the husband of Princess Margriet) issued such frustration when all his daughters-in-law could be addressed as "Princess" (by courtesy) but he not. He did not make a point of it but it escaped him too.

When Mr O'Neill gets a son, he will face the same situation. A daughter-in-law married to his son can be addressed as "Princess" (by courtesy) while he is just a Mr O'Neill. There are indeed some anomalies in the titulature.

The children of Professor Van Vollenhoven should just be Mr/Ms Van Vollenhoven, the children of Mr O'Neill should just be Mr/Ms O'Neill. It was just the "desire" of Queen Juliana and now King Carl XVI Gustaf not to make a difference in A-grandchildren and B-grandchildren. In the UK the Queen was clear: the children of Captain Phillips are all Mr/Ms Phillips. Period.

[JessRulz]

Two of the scenarios you mention aren't the same as the van Vollenhovens, or as Prince Henrik, as the men who married in - Chris and Mark Phillips - both declined titles upon marriage.

Had Chris accepted a title, he would have been the Duke of of Hälsingland and Gästrikland (as Jonas would have been had he and Madeleine actually married).

Mark Phillips was offered a title, but he and Anne turned it down and therefore his children didn't receive any titles either. In that case, it wasn't a case of the Queen being clear, it was a case of there was no conventional way for the Phillips children to have a title.

I'm not really sure what the point of comparing men who married younger children (daughters) of monarchs, not the actually heir, is in relation to this discussion. Titles given to the husbands and children through the female-line - provided the daughter is not the heir apparent - is not something typically done.

[GracieGiraffe]

Methinks Henrik is getting old, and not in a good way.

[maria-olivia]

Blauw Bloed showed an long interview concerning the coming Visit of the King and Queen of the Netherlands. The Queen spoke a long time , much longer as shown on other TV, She said She was His Godmother etc...

The Consort spoke shortly to say non senses. Consort since 47 years I should know that what he said should stole the show... Ridiculous behaviour !

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

I've seen some of these and other images like this before. And I know that the grandchildren is fond of him, but I've seen him with them in documentaries and I found him very controling.

He can be, but I don't thank that's a bad thing. With normal as well as royal children. You can easily be fairly strict and very loving at the same time.

Originally Posted by Ana Von Cleves

I have only read a page or two of the thread, so forgive me if this has already been addressed.


It seems to me that Henrik has always had an issue with his status and "place" in the Danish royal family. If I remember correctly, we went through something similar in the 1980's when P Frederick came of age.


There were tales of Henri's depression and his resentment that his son would now outshine the father as the heir. That Frederick would get the good assignments, etc.

That was some ten years or so ago (time flies). The trigger was the New Year Court for the diplomatic corps, where QMII was unable to attend due to a fall. So Frederik and PH went alone.
That's official business, so it was Frederik who, as Crown Prince and direct substitute for the Monarch, gave a speech to the diplomats and it was also Frederik the doyen among the diplomats directed his speech to. But when they lined up to receive the personal new year wishes from the diplomats it was PH who was senior, because now they wished the family a Happy New Year.
In short PH was miffed because he felt he should have given the speech, and that it was him, the doyen should have addressed.

It was the final straw where PH felt (with some justification) that he had not been acknowledged by the public and the media. That the court administration didn't respect him (PH may think he is the patriarch, but constitutionally and administratively speaking QMII is in charge) and now his oldest son was usurping him - in public! So he felt humiliated and ran off to France.
And I have rarely seen a more toe-curling scene as the press meeting a few days later in France, where PH with QMII by his side assured that there were no problems and with Frederik and Joachim behind them. You didn't need a degree in body language to see F&J were embarrassed in that situation. - And a little while later PH was "promoted" to Prince Consort.

[camelot23ca]

I think Henrik disrespects his wife every time he does something like this. Even if Margrethe is used to it by now, even if he's, (kind of but not really), joking, even if he has a valid point, he still needs to stop. And I say that as someone with an overall favourable impression of him. IMO, whenever he's tempted to bring this subject up again he needs to think not of who he wants to be but of who he already is - the Prince Consort of Denmark - and behave with the dignity expected of someone in that position.

The Prince should also be more cognizant of the 99 out of a hundred times gender inequality works in his favour! There would be much less patience for any royal woman who persisted in stepping out of line like this.

[Blog Real]

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

I've seen some of these and other images like this before. And I know that the grandchildren is fond of him, but I've seen him with them in documentaries and I found him very controling.

The pictures I've seen, Prince Henrik always seemed to be a good grandfather. Maybe it was a good father, have not seen many pictures of him when the children were small.

[hernameispekka]

Originally Posted by camelot23ca

I think Henrik disrespects his wife every time he does something like this. Even if Margrethe is used to it by now, even if he's, (kind of but not really), joking, even if he has a valid point, he still needs to stop. And I say that as someone with an overall favourable impression of him. IMO, whenever he's tempted to bring this subject up again he needs to think not of who he wants to be but of who he already is - the Prince Consort of Denmark - and behave with the dignity expected of someone in that position.

The Prince should also be more cognizant of the 99 out of a hundred times gender inequality works in his favour! There would be much less patience for any royal woman who persisted in stepping out of line like this.

I fully agree. It's rude and rather stupid. Ofc the press will catch on too that instead of the important things. It's his job to think about that stuff..

[Roslyn]

Originally Posted by camelot23ca

I think Henrik disrespects his wife every time he does something like this. Even if Margrethe is used to it by now, even if he's, (kind of but not really), joking, even if he has a valid point, he still needs to stop. And I say that as someone with an overall favourable impression of him. IMO, whenever he's tempted to bring this subject up again he needs to think not of who he wants to be but of who he already is - the Prince Consort of Denmark - and behave with the dignity expected of someone in that position.

Precisely! It's very foolish of him to make such comments. He knows full well how the system works, and why he is a prince rather than king, or he darn well should by now.

The Prince should also be more cognizant of the 99 out of a hundred times gender inequality works in his favour! There would be much less patience for any royal woman who persisted in stepping out of line like this.

Yep. Some men just can't help themselves though. Maybe he'd had a testosterone spike or something had happened to make him feel "unmanly" for some reason. Or maybe he just thought it was funny.

[QueenJen]

I wonder if he was permitted to whine when he was a child?

[GracieGiraffe]

If he's this bad about it in public, one can just imagine the whining he does in private...

[hernameispekka]

Originally Posted by GracieGiraffe

If he's this bad about it in public, one can just imagine the whining he does in private...

Absolutley.... Poor family :P

[MARG]

Originally Posted by GracieGiraffe

Methinks Henrik is getting old, and not in a good way.

Unfortunately you have hit the nail on the head. Like most people, he is getting less tolerant of the things that bug him. It's like the "diplomacy" filter gets turned off and they say what they really feel when they really shouldnit!

Perhaps the media will chalk it up to "that's just Henrik" and move on in much the same way they do for Prince Philip's sense of humour/political incorrectness, which just means he's getting away with heaps now that he is "old"!

As for what he's like in private? He's like Henrik/Dad/Grandad/the in-laws!

[Roslyn]

Just imagine a private conversation between Prince Henrik and Prince Philip alone in a room with a bottle of cognac!

[Nice Nofret]

.. with Prince Philip I never got the impression he wanted to be King, rather he would have prefered to be Admiral of the Fleet and his wife, just the wife of an Admiral .. which is not quite the same thing ..