Countess Alexandra's Alimony


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Is this the house P Joachim paid for after the divorce??
 
Yes it was and as the prices on houses in Denmark has raised extencivly since then - it represent quit a fortune by now.
 
Good to know Alexandra got a good deal on the way out. It looks like a real huge place.
 
It is. I live in the same area of Copenhagen and used to pass by this house on bike every day - going to my former job. Unfurturnatly I never got to see Alexandra or the kids:ermm:.
 
It is. I live in the same area of Copenhagen and used to pass by this house on bike every day - going to my former job. Unfurturnatly I never got to see Alexandra or the kids:ermm:.

Lucky you!!!!!!! Looks like a beautiful area to live in. I guess they get in the cars in the courtyard and drive away....
 
It's a pretty sarcastic comment from the
not- always-so-royalistic gossip-rag!

In short: it's about Alexandra and Martin
returning from their round of popular holiday
resorts like Alanya, Sardinia and (somewhere in) Italy
after dropping off the kids in Paris for
Prince Joachim and Princess Marie. Etcetera blah-blah.
It concludes "all for an annuity of 1.9 million kroner"

This piece just underlines the difficult situation
of the countess. Her patronages have been
scaled down and yet she's supposed to do
something in return for her money.

I don't mind contributing to her annuity, which
seems to be a problem for the RF- scrutinizing
and petty-minded Danes.
1.9 mill. kroner are peanuts in the
Budget, and they're even subject to tax!

Of course it would have been better had the RF been able
to pay for her upkeep of their own means.
Apparently they can't, and so be it!

Nor do I mind her getting freebees - if that's
the case - at various holiday spots. I don't see her
life as enviable at all and IMHO Alexandra is chained on
- at least - one foot!

viv
 
Alexandra's money a disgrace

It's a pretty sarcastic comment from the
not- always-so-royalistic gossip-rag!

In short: it's about Alexandra and Martin
returning from their round of popular holiday
resorts like Alanya, Sardinia and (somewhere in) Italy
after dropping off the kids in Paris for
Prince Joachim and Princess Marie. Etcetera.
It concludes "all for an annuity of 1.9 million kroner"

This piece just underlines the difficult situation
of the countess. Her patronages have been
scaled down and yet she's supposed to do
something in return for her money.

I don't mind contributing to her annuity, which
seems to be a problem for the RF- scrutinizing
and petty-minded Danes.
1.9 mill. kroner are peanuts in the
Budget, and they're even subject to tax!

Of course it would have been better had the RF been able
to pay for her upkeep of their own means.
Apparently they can't, and so be it!

Nor do I mind her getting freebees - if that's
the case - at various holiday spots. IMHO
she's chained on at least one foot!

viv

I respectfully disagree. Alexandra's annuity is a disgrace and not worthy of a modern monarchy. May I remind you, that when Charles and Diana divorced, their financial settlement was completely private and did not involve ANY public money. I for one do not understand why the Danish taxpayer was left to pay Prince Joachim's alimony to his ex-wife. Having said that, I think Denmark lost out on a great opportunity to employ Alexandra. She could have become an excellent trade attache somewhere or worked at the Foreign Office. She is highly skilled and her talent is being wasted on the few patronages, she has left. Unfortunately her departure from Amalienborg was so acrimonious, that no one was going to lift a finger for her after they had secured her lifelong allowance from the Danish people.:flowers:
 
Contrary to the British RF the Danish RF have nothing
corresponding to the Duchy of Cornwall and
the Duchy of Lancaster and the income generated
by these estates! If that were the case the
financial issues of the divorce would have been
solved without involving the Danish tax payer!

Nor did I ever see Alexandra as a good-will
ambassador or an ex- princess-of-(the Danish) -hearts.
like the role the late Diana envisaged for herself.
And nor does the royal court, if your book is
anything to go by :)!

So far we're stuck with this quasi-royal family
made up of Martin Jørgensen and countess
Alexandra for a number of convoluted reasons.

Viv
 
Alexandra's settlement is nothing unusual other than the involvement by the state. And that is a matter between the Queen and the government.
 
Is that amount of money such a problem to the Danish?? It's something like 400.000 euro's or thereabout on which Alexandra still has to pay tax, so she is left with, say 275.000's euro per year?? That's peanuts to the Government I'm sure. What else do you expect?? She still has to raise 2 princes and can hardly do so in a 2 bedroom appartment in some "minor" neighbourhood of Copenhagen, can she?? You cannot compare this divorce to what happened to Diana and Sarah, thank God the Danish solved it a lot more stylish. I personally have no problem at all with it (you may have guessed, I am and have always been a huuuuuge Alexandra fan, this lady is a class act). I think it was al set up to give Nicolai and Felix a princely upbringing after the divorce, because they do not live with Joachim all the time. Come on, it's not like she is receiving millions of euro's. And did she not return only 8 of her patronages to the Crown and still has the other 16 or so?
 
Is that amount of money such a problem to the Danish?? It's something like 400.000 euro's or thereabout on which Alexandra still has to pay tax, so she is left with, say 275.000's euro per year?? That's peanuts to the Government I'm sure. What else do you expect?? She still has to raise 2 princes and can hardly do so in a 2 bedroom appartment in some "minor" neighbourhood of Copenhagen, can she?? You cannot compare this divorce to what happened to Diana and Sarah, thank God the Danish solved it a lot more stylish. I personally have no problem at all with it (you may have guessed, I am and have always been a huuuuuge Alexandra fan, this lady is a class act). I think it was al set up to give Nicolai and Felix a princely upbringing after the divorce, because they do not live with Joachim all the time. Come on, it's not like she is receiving millions of euro's. And did she not return only 8 of her patronages to the Crown and still has the other 16 or so?
I agree that Alexandra was the ultimate princess: Sharp, sexy and sassy. Such a shame the marriage did not last. However, it is in my humble opinion beyond arrogant to leave the Danish taxpayer to support her and her new husband, now that she is no longer a member of the royal house.It is not the money, because the amount is small, but it's the principle. Why should the Danes still pay to Alexandra? These days she hardly performs any official engagements. If it were a case of making sure that the sons, who are in the line of succcession, do not grow up in an inner city one-bedroom flat somewhere, then why was the annuity not allocated directly to them? :flowers:

Alexandra's settlement is nothing unusual other than the involvement by the state. And that is a matter between the Queen and the government.

Yes, Alexandra's financial settlement with the Danish taxpayer is VERY unusual. Three of Queen Elizabet's children have divorced. None of the financial settlements had anything to do with public money. I am also told that the pending divorce between the Spanish Infanta Elena and her husband (whose name escapes me right now) will be an entirely private matter and will not involve ANY funding by the goverment (read: taxpayers.):flowers:

Contrary to the British RF the Danish RF have nothing
corresponding to the Duchy of Cornwall and
the Duchy of Lancaster and the income generated
by these estates! If that were the case the
financial issues of the divorce would have been
solved without involving the Danish tax payer!

Nor did I ever see Alexandra as a good-will
ambassador or an ex- princess-of-(the Danish) -hearts.
like the role the late Diana envisaged for herself.
And nor does the royal court, if your book is
anything to go by :)!

So far we're stuck with this quasi-royal family
made up of Martin Jørgensen and countess
Alexandra for a number of convoluted reasons.

Viv
Since the Danish public is denied any insight into the royal finances, we really do not know how rich or poor our royal family is. However, I am certain that the palace courtiers could have come up with something (perhaps even a job?) had it been necessary to "reimburse" Alexandra. It was not necessary because in Denmark the royal house gets what the royal house wants. The "deal" with Alexandra is opposed by a majority of Danes in all the polls, I have seen (please don't ask me to find them, but I have them somewhere because I have done some research into this:rolleyes:)
 
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I agree that Alexandra was the ultimate princess: Sharp, sexy and sassy. Such a shame the marriage did not last. However, it is in my humble opinion beyond arrogant to leave the Danish taxpayer to support her and her new husband, now that she is no longer a member of the royal house.It is not the money, because the amount is small, but it's the principle. Why should the Danes still pay to Alexandra? These days she hardly performs any official engagements. If it were a case of making sure that the sons, who are in the line of succcession, do not grow up in an inner city one-bedroom flat somewhere, then why was the annuity not allocated directly to them? :flowers:
At the time of the divorce Nicolai and Felix were 5 and 2 years old. Hardly an age to handle any money don't you think? The trouble is that the Danish RF hardly seems to have the assets other European RF's do have. So the government has to pay one way or the other.
 
Well, it's better than in some celebrity cases that have happened around the US. What with people being given 20,000 dollars PER MONTH PER CHILD in addition to houses, cars (which must of course be worth more than 80,000) which must be new every 2 years, etc.

At least she still does something for the money with her charities, and she does have to raise 2 princes, who are part of the royal family even if they will have much more minor roles in the future.

Can't say that I think that she needs the money or deserves the money personally, since it's a heck of a lot of money, and more than most people who work are paid, but there you go. It's the decision that was made.

And in cases where custody is shared, the annuity is generally called child support, or alimony, and paid directly to the other parent, not to the child.
 
I think some people will only be satisfied when seeing Alexandra receiving public money EXCLUSIVELY for rasing the princes. She has to note every expense she spends. If they go for vacation, for example, only the expenses on the little princes are allowed to be paid by the public money and Alexandra has to pay the fee on her own. Everyone knows that it is not possible to completely separate Alexandra´s expenses from her sons`.
Handling an Ex-princess like this is really no-class.
BTW, Martin may use his own money for daily or vacation expenses. He has a job and he has rich parents. When they got married, they signed that their properties are separate. So I think it´s not fair to say that the government pays for Alexandra AND her new husband because this could be true but I think it´s more possible that this is not true.
And I think we should not blame Alexandra that she doesn´t work so much. You can´t deny that people become more and more focused and attracted to the new Princess Marie. Crown Princess Mary is also a media spot. I can understand that fewer and fewer organizations would ask Alexandra to be their patron, or they would thinking about changing their patron to somebody who can drive more public attention.
Why can´t Alexandra just be a full-time mother and concentrate totally on the upbringing of her children? I personally would be happy to see the two princes grown up as nice gentlemen and behave well. We have already enough spoiled and negative-news-creating royals.
 
I don't think that she should get an extra fee for any expenses that she incurs on behalf of the little princes. That should come out of the money that she is already receiving.
 
I respectfully disagree. Alexandra's annuity is a disgrace and not worthy of a modern monarchy. May I remind you, that when Charles and Diana divorced, their financial settlement was completely private and did not involve ANY public money. I for one do not understand why the Danish taxpayer was left to pay Prince Joachim's alimony to his ex-wife. Having said that, I think Denmark lost out on a great opportunity to employ Alexandra. She could have become an excellent trade attache somewhere or worked at the Foreign Office. She is highly skilled and her talent is being wasted on the few patronages, she has left. Unfortunately her departure from Amalienborg was so acrimonious, that no one was going to lift a finger for her after they had secured her lifelong allowance from the Danish people.:flowers:


Alexandra probably doesn't want to work any more. It is clear she lives comfortably on annuity.
 
Doesn't Joachim pay any child support on his own? My gosh, he got off cheaply - throwing it all on the government. Even if he paid for Alex's house on his own, he still got off cheap.
I don't mind that Alex has patronages - she is smart, stylish and a real asset to any organization. She really has class. Martin seems to conduct himself very well when he accompanies Alex on these forays. Martin seems to be a good step-father to the two kids and he makes Alex happy. He is sooooo goodlooking - I would rather look at photos of him than Joachim!
 
Not child support

Well, it's better than in some celebrity cases that have happened around the US. What with people being given 20,000 dollars PER MONTH PER CHILD in addition to houses, cars (which must of course be worth more than 80,000) which must be new every 2 years, etc.

At least she still does something for the money with her charities, and she does have to raise 2 princes, who are part of the royal family even if they will have much more minor roles in the future.

Can't say that I think that she needs the money or deserves the money personally, since it's a heck of a lot of money, and more than most people who work are paid, but there you go. It's the decision that was made.

And in cases where custody is shared, the annuity is generally called child support, or alimony, and paid directly to the other parent, not to the child.

I see your point about money being paid to the other parent, BUT in this case the only justification for handing over the taxpayers money is Nikolai and Felix. Lets just remember that Alexandras money is not child support. It is called a "special allowance." She keeps it till she dies and she can go and live abroad and still get her cheque from the Danes every month. Why didn't someone install some checks and balances before they decided to give Alexandra a free financial ride for the rest of her life? Why didn't someone make sure that there is some kind of fiscal supervision so that the money goes to the sons and not to Alexandra herself. No one knows how much money the Danish Royal Family family has, so no one can say for sure whether or not they would be able to pay for Alexandras upkeep themselves. A source told me that Queen Ingrid left about 100 million Danish kroner, so they must have some money! :flowers:
 
I see your point about money being paid to the other parent, BUT in this case the only justification for handing over the taxpayers money is Nikolai and Felix. Lets just remember that Alexandras money is not child support. It is called a "special allowance." She keeps it till she dies and she can go and live abroad and still get her cheque from the Danes every month. Why didn't someone install some checks and balances before they decided to give Alexandra a free financial ride for the rest of her life? Why didn't someone make sure that there is some kind of fiscal supervision so that the money goes to the sons and not to Alexandra herself. No one knows how much money the Danish Royal Family family has, so no one can say for sure whether or not they would be able to pay for Alexandras upkeep themselves. A source told me that Queen Ingrid left about 100 million Danish kroner, so they must have some money! :flowers:
Q Margerethe is a very astute and smart woman. I am sure she made sure Alexandra received what she was entitled to - and no more. There are perhaps lots we don't know about the divorce and reasons behind it that would justify the award. Alexandra is set for life - just like any person (man or woman) marrying into money.
It is the royal house that should take any criticism for the way the money comes to Alexandra - it would seem the royal family could have included it in their allowances and passed it on to her. Q Margerethe had her reasons - she is way too smart to just let something happen.
 
Since the Danish public is denied any insight into the royal finances, we really do not know how rich or poor our royal family is.

Villemann, with all due respect: this has become an obsession of yours!
What makes you think that we have the right to insight into anyones
private financial affairs? I mean, would you like to tell us what your
proceeds are from the sale of "1015-K"? Or would you like to inform
us about your savings and whether you have invested in bonds and
shares, and how much? No?

So what exactly justifies your claim to insight? Is it the very fact
that the RF is living off civil list money? Do you suspect that part
of the apanage is being spent inappropriately on shares in
A.P. Møller? Do you think that the RF have fortunes stashed
away somewhere? I see that you mention Queen
Ingrid and her estate in a later post. 100 mill. kroner! You have
got to be kidding! If my memory serves me right: this amount
was speculated upon by Ekstra-Bladet shortly after her death,
which is why I refuse to take it seriously ;)!

I've read somewhere that "on advice, Queen Ingrid invested her
Swedish inheritance wisely", and there's good reason to believe
that she amassed a comfortable fortune in the lower two digit
end of the scale of million kroners. But whatever she left had
to be divived by at least three beneficiaries (her daughters).

(She would probably have forked out one way or the other, had she
lived to see the divorce!)

Back to the divorce settlement and the alimony: I would like to
believe that the legal/constitutional/financial experts of the
royal court were queueing up to inform HM and Prince Joachim
that they should try keeping the tax payer out of it if they
possibly could. These experts must have been able to foresee
the ramifications of getting Alexandra on the civil list! That's
what I would like to believe, but of course I could be delusional!

On the other hand, one could argue that just as the upkeep of
the Joachims was (partly) a public project, the alimony is (partly)
a public project.

Whatever: stop comparisons with the British RF. The
Prince of Wales is living off the income of the vast Duchy
of Cornwall estate. He isn't even on the civil list; it's a
completely different kettle of fish!

Viv
 
Since the Danish public is denied any insight into the royal finances, we really do not know how rich or poor our royal family is. However, I am certain that the palace courtiers could have come up with something (perhaps even a job?) had it been necessary to "reimburse" Alexandra. It was not necessary because in Denmark the royal house gets what the royal house wants. The "deal" with Alexandra is opposed by a majority of Danes in all the polls, I have seen (please don't ask me to find them, but I have them somewhere because I have done some research into this:rolleyes:)

I understand that you are opposed to that payment from public accounts. But in a democracy it works like that: the people vote for their parliament which is the basis of the government. Thus the government represents the people and if the government decides that an ex-wife should have that money, then it's what happens.

I find that okay. It's journalists and authors {edited personal comment - Empress}who make it impossible for somebody who once belonged to a Royal family to start again as a "normal" business woman. What kind of job opportunities does she have? How could she work when she is under constant "public" scrutiny? It's not like Mabel who never was a "real" princess in the Netherlands but lived and worked abroad since her wedding. On the other hand it obviously is not seen as appropriate for Alexandra to work more for charities as she is an ex-member of the RF. What is Alexandra to do? She can't go abroad because of her sons, she can't work and all because of the "public" position she once had. Seems just for me that she should be supported by the public because of that.
 
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On the other hand it obviously is not seen as appropriate for Alexandra to work more for charities as she is an ex-member of the RF.
Why is it "obviously not seen as appropriate" to work more for charities and who says so?
After all Alexandra kept more than half of her former 23 patronages - among them UNICEF -, and moreover, working for charities is not a "royal" thing only. A lot of celebrities do it and Alexandra is still very popular in DK and somewhere between royal and celeb.

It's quite clear to me why she had to stop representing the country and I agree that the whole situation is not easy for her.
But IIRC the money from the state was granted to her back in 2004 not for raising her children but because it was said that she would continue her work with her patronages.
IMHO Alexandra hasn't done enough for the money she gets since 2006 (long before she got married again and had to pay taxes and long before Marie appeared on the scene). 20-40 events per year? And no trips for UNICEF anymore?

That's my point of critic. If she really had continued her work with her patronages I would have thought it's ok she gets money from the state because she really doesn't have that many other possibilities. But I don't see a lot of commitment here (after all those years where we were told how much Alexandra cares about her patronages).

This is just my impression of course, could be totally wrong. :)
 
I think that, although she isn't doing as much work as she used to with those patronages, she is doing more than we see - for example, none of us ever posted about the distribution of annual economic means, of her work with the research into sudden infant death, or the reception at the British Chamber of Commerce, to name a few. Also, she does have a job, although I believe it's not a 9-5, Mon-Fri job (http://www.ferring.com/en/aboutus/people/board/) - I doubt that she could conceviably get one of those, as her last job was obviously before being a Princess (her last job was as a Deputy Chief Executive at GT Management, form 1993-95).
 
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She gets extra paid for that "job".
I am talking about the money from the state.
And I am watching Alexandra's own calendar. :)
 
I will not be taken advantage of

I understand that you are opposed to that payment from public accounts. But in a democracy it works like that: the people vote for their parliament which is the basis of the government. Thus the government represents the people and if the government decides that an ex-wife should have that money, then it's what happens.

I find that okay. It's journalists and authors like you who make it impossible for somebody who once belonged to a Royal family to start again as a "normal" business woman. What kind of job opportunities does she have? How could she work when she is under constant "public" scrutiny? It's not like Mabel who never was a "real" princess in the Netherlands but lived and worked abroad since her wedding. On the other hand it obviously is not seen as appropriate for Alexandra to work more for charities as she is an ex-member of the RF. What is Alexandra to do? She can't go abroad because of her sons, she can't work and all because of the "public" position she once had. Seems just for me that she should be supported by the public because of that.

{Edited personal comment - Empress} Where does it say in the Danish Constitution - or anywhere else for that matter? - that a former or ideed a current member of the Danish Royal Family can not have a job? Up until a few years ago, Crown Princes Frederik actually held a position at the military academy in Copenhagen(albeit only for a short period of time.) We have several minor members of the Danish Royal Family who work for a living. I can not see, why Alexandra, talented and skilled as she is, can not get a job. And I certainly find it very hard to justify that the Danish taxpayer has been left with the burden of supporting Alexandra. I am a roylist and I am prepared to pay for my monarchy, but I am not prepared to be taken advantage of!:flowers:
 
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Who is taking advantage of you?? My god, it's not like she is getting millions isn't she?? What is 400.000 euro's a year divided over 5.5 million Danish people, it's really peanuts. And she even pays back at least a third of it in the form of taxes.
 
Like I have stated several times, it is not the money. The sum is insignificant. It is the principle, but also the precedence we might be creating. A monarchy so removed from it's people that it simply "bestowes" the financial responsebility for Alexandra on us, is arrogant and out of tune with the times. It is taking advantage of my goddwill and my rspect for the institution to leave the bill with me and my fellow taxpayers. Also, what happens if there is another royal divorce? Will the Dansih taxpayer have to pay for all future ex-royals, not that we have accepted to pay for Alexandra?
 
I will sidestep your personal attack on me and deal with the issue. Where does it say in the Danish Constitution - or anywhere else for that matter? - that a former or ideed a current member of the Danish Royal Family can not have a job?

Where does that say that indeed... what an idea! That's not what constitutions are about. They are about how the power (including the power to spend the taxpayer's money) is managed in a state. In Denmark, obviously it is the government who has the power and the government probably is being voted for by the strongest parties in the parliament - parties who get their legislative power from their people via votes. So the government is (via the step of parliament) the representative of the will of the majority of people. And if the government decides that Alexandra needs to be supported, then it is legally okay.

About her working: as I said, she faces a lot of difficulties, normal people don't have because of the media interest in her. These media outlets (books, papers etc.) earn money on reporting about her and make it difficult for her to earn money herself. So IMHO it is not right for somebody who is part of the Royality reporting media, who earns money from sniffing around Alexandra's private life, to tell Alexandra to get a job in order to save money for the taxpayers. Yes, you can take this personally if you want to. There are so many ways to earn money as a journalist and author without prying into other people's privacy, so the people who write about this topic and doing "research" on asking other people about their target's secrets don't need to do that but do it because they obviously want to. Which is something I personally don't like.
 
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