Prince Henrik: "I Should Be King" Discussion

[Marengo]

Several members of the Dutch press had a short meeting with Queen Margrethe II and prince Henrik.

Clip:

Koningin Margrethe: aanslagen waren geen verrassing | NOS

...

The conversation took a new direction when Prince Henrik started talking. He expressed his dismay that he does not have the title of King while Maxima is Queen: ' why should I be under my wife? Why? Why should Denmark copy England? And not copy Spain, Scotland? All the queens of Scotland have made their husbands king consort'. The queen could not repress a smile, she must have heard it a million times by now.

Among the journalists were journalists from the NOS, RTL and the author of royalblog/ GPD press Hans Jacobs and Royalty's Marc van der Linden.

[muriel]

Bless!

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Several members of the Dutch press had a short meeting with Queen Margrethe II and prince Henrik.

Clip:

Koningin Margrethe: aanslagen waren geen verrassing | NOS

The queen commented about the atteacks of this weekend and said she was proud of the way the country reacted.

The conversation took a new direction when Prince Henrik started talking. He expressed his dismay that he does not have the title of King while Maxima is Queen: ' why should I be under my wife? Why? Why should Denmark copy England? And not copy Spain, Scotland? All the queens of Scotland have made their husbands king consort'. The queen could not repress a smile, she must have heard it a million times by now.

Among the journalists were journalists from the NOS, RTL and the author of royalblog/ GPD press Hans Jacobs and Royalty's Marc van der Linden.

Is he going on about that again?!?

One should think that he in these days would have something better to worry about.
PH is not going to be king, won't happen, forget it! That has been made clear by both the politicians as well as the public opinion.
Gender egality does not apply here.

There are times when I want to whack PH in the back of the head with a shovel and this in one of those times!

[Roskilde]

Thank God that it wasn't a press conference for Danish journalists. When the Danish media would have go crazy. If there is something we don't bother hear more about it's this.

He is a man with many good sides and many qualifications, so it's a shame and a pity for him that he keeps claiming about it. It will not bring anything but criticism. Not surprised that Margrethe choose to pretend like she didn't heard it

There's by the way a very simple reason why Henrik isn't our King.

That's because a King ranks higher than a Queen on the paper. And therefore we can't have a King Henrik as he then would ranks higher than our Queen Margrethe. I can see Henrik's idea about it's not equality between a man and a woman. But it's after all a old royal tradition we are talking about and some things just need to be preserved. Otherwise, the royality goes off. I'm sure Henrik and Margrethe is completely equal at home and in the private.

When Frederik becomes King Mary will become Queen. Simply because, as said before, a Queen ranks below a King. Thus, Queen Mary will still ranks under King Frederik.

[Duc_et_Pair]

I have seen the Prince's rant. It was on the Dutch news and we saw Prince Henrik totally derailing. First the Queen smiled a bit ("Ah... he will stop in a few seconds...") but when Henrik went on and on, it became painful and Queen Margrethe tapped on her husband's shoulder to stop it.


Princ Henrik's rant was unjustified. He compared himself with Máxima and he wondered "why should we follow the British example?" He should have compared himself with Claus von Amsberg, Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld and Heinrich von Mecklenburg-Schwerin, with Félix de Bourbon de Parme, with Albert von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha and indeed.... with Philip of Greece and Denmark: all consorts to a female head of state, and all a Prince indeed...


The comparison with Máxima is also unlucky for a second reason. Her formal title IS that of Princess. Only because of "social custom" she is addressed with her husband's predicate and titles, causing a diffuse mix of two titles: Hare Majesteit koningin Máxima, prinses der Nederlanden, prinses van Oranje-Nassau.

[Duc_et_Pair]

The Royal House Act 2002 in the Netherlands was very clear:

The title Prins (Prinses) der Nederlanden is born by:

- the spouse of the King (Queen) - Article 8
- the spouse of the Prince (Princess) of Orange - Article 7

Very clear and very gender neutral. When Máxima became Queen however, the Government could not resist to meddle with this very clear principle again. "Ah.. isn't it tradition that the spouse of a King is a Queen? Should Máxima not become a Queen too?"

The legal settlement was followed: Máxima is and remains Princess of the Netherlands and Princess of Orange-Nassau. That is the formal title. Because of unneccessary meddling with the own clear rules suddenly this clarity has been left and now "out of social custom" she can be addressed as "Queen Máxima".



What a missed opportunity to introduce gender neutrality after three male consorts in a row and a fourth coming (the spouse of Princess Catharina-Amalia).

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Roskilde

That's because a King ranks higher than a Queen on the paper. And therefore we can't have a King Henrik as he then would ranks higher than our Queen Margrethe.

Who appoints ranks in Denmark?

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

Who appoints ranks in Denmark?

The Law of Succession and the Monarch.

The firstborn child of the monarch (or heir), is by law the crown prince/ss - when he/she turns eighteen and sign a pledge to obey the Constitution and is a member of the State Church. Not even the monarch can change that.
Everybody else's title is up to the monarch.

But as king traditionally outranks a queen and the Parliament okays any new title (even if it's usually a formality) at least in DK PH is and will remain a Prince Consort.

Personally I can't understand why it's so bloody important to him. Currently he holds the second highest position in the kingdom, no matter the title, one should think that was enough.
I hope for the sake of family-peace in the DRF that PH will die before QMII, so he won't get another fit when his son and daugher-in-law outranks him.

I mean, come on there are to put it mildly more important things on the agenda!

[Duke of Marmalade]

Wow, PH is still getting carried away by the topic, really comes to life! Funny to see QM just smile ... He is wrong about the Netherlands as already pointed out, what Scottish Queens did centuries ago, bad example and just in case there will be a Queen in Spain a few decades from now I doubt her husband will be addressed as 'rey'. Its old age obstinacy I guess and nothing can be done about it anymore.

[Schatten]

This man is so embarrassing! He should be happy that he's a prince at all and Queen Margrethe has chosen him and no one else.

He would love to rank higher as his wife, luckily that will never happen. I would really like to know what she thinks about it.

He just wants to fell good about himself, he can have the Title of King of the ego.

[Duc_et_Pair]

In the Netherlands it is technically not possible to be a King-Consort. The Constitution speaks about The King (only in the male version) as the bearer of the Crown and head of state. Three successive Queens have not changed that principle. There is a special Act when The King is a female:

Act of June 22nd 1891

Article 1
As long as a Queen is the bearer of the Crown, in all formal documents, in the official titulature and all namings the title "The King" will be replaced by "The Queen" with respect for all furtherer linguistic modifications.

In simple words: Where is written "The King", please read "The Queen".


When a male spouse of The Queen has the title of King, this causes a hopeless mess with the Dutch Constitution and other Acts, laws and decrees. This will never happen. Gender equality is already reached by the official titulature.

The spouse of the King = Princess of the Netherlands
The spouse of the Queen = Prince of the Netherlands
The spouse of the Prince of Orange = Princess of the Netherlands
The spouse of the Princess of Orange = Prince of the Netherlands

[maria-olivia]

Who is number 2 in Denmark the Consort Prince or the Crown Prince ?

[Schatten]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Who is number 2 in Denmark the Consort Prince or the Crown Prince ?

Line of succession to the Danish throne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Who is number 2 in Denmark the Consort Prince or the Crown Prince ?

I think the Consort Prince outranks the CP, but in QM's absence CP ranks higher. I think it happened during one of the New Year receptions when Frederik outranked his father when standing in for QM and Henrik flipped, went to Caix and the Queen had to travel there to appease him and bring him back

[Archduchess Zelia]

It's incredible on so many levels that he doesn't seem to be able to shut up about this ridiculous subject. Not only is he putting the Queen in a super uncomfortable position (the Queen without whom he wouldn't be a prince in the first place!), he also comes off incredible sexist (as though it's somehow a bad thing that his wife ranks higher than him) and he's hurting the otherwise improving relationship between himself and the Danes.

Come on now, it only takes a glance through history to see that officially, a King ranks higher than a Queen. When time comes, Mary won't be any higher ranking than Henrik is now – regardless of her title as Queen Consort. It's really unflattering that he doesn't seem to learn from prior mistakes. Some things are better left unsaid.

[maria-olivia]

He will die with his Eternal Frustration....

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Who is number 2 in Denmark the Consort Prince or the Crown Prince ?

The website of the Danish monarchy enlists them as such, which is indeed the Order of Precedence. There has been a row about who was Number Two: Prince Henrik or Prince Frederik. The Queen has given him the official title Prinsgemalen and has arranged that he always and ever has precedence directly after her.

REGENTPARRET
HM Dronningen
HKH Prinsgemalen

KRONPRINSPARRET
HKH Kronprinsen
HKH Kronprinsessen
HKH prins Christian, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HKH prinsesse Isabella, prinsesse til Danmark, komtesse af Monpezat
HKH prins Vincent, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HKH prinsesse Josephine, prinsesse til Danmark, komtesse af Monpezat

PRINS JOACHIM
HKH prins Joachim, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HKH prinsesse Marie, prinsesse af Danmark, grevinde af Monpezat
HH prins Nikolai, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HH prins Felix, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HH prins Henrik, prins til Danmark, greve af Monpezat
HH prinsesse Athena, prinsesse til Danmark, komtesse af Monpezat

PRINSESSE BENEDIKTE
HKH princesse Benedikte, prinsesse til Danmark, prinsesse af Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
HH prins Richard, prins til Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

PRINSESSE ELISABETH
HH prinsesse Elisabeth, prinsesse til Danmark

(Queen Annemarie is not enlisted and has no formal position in the Danish Royal House).

[dbarn67]

Originally Posted by Archduchess Zelia

It's incredible on so many levels that he doesn't seem to be able to shut up about this ridiculous subject. Not only is he putting the Queen in a super uncomfortable position (the Queen without whom he wouldn't be a prince in the first place!), he also comes off incredible sexist (as though it's somehow a bad thing that his wife ranks higher than him) and he's hurting the otherwise improving relationship between himself and the Danes.

Come on now, it only takes a glance through history to see that officially, a King ranks higher than a Queen. When time comes, Mary won't be any higher ranking than Henrik is now – regardless of her title as Queen Consort. It's really unflattering that he doesn't seem to learn from prior mistakes. Some things are better left unsaid.

Agree, it's really embarrassing.

[Nordic]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

The website of the Danish monarchy enlists them as such

But isn't this just a list and names of the members of the DRF?

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Nordic

But isn't this just a list and names of the members of the DRF?

Yes but it is also the Order of Precedence. At the New Years Reception, at State Banquets, at ceremonial or protocollary events it is always 1 Dronningen, 2 Prinsgemalen, 3 Kronprinsen, 4 Kronprinsessen.