The Danish palace has already announced Prince Frederik & Mary’s new titles

The Danish royal palace has already announced the new titles for Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary once Queen Margrethe abdicates on January 14th. Fred will go by King Frederik X (formerly Frederik Twitter!). Mary will be Her Majesty Queen Mary, and collectively they will be the King and Queen of Denmark. Surprisingly – to me – Margrethe won’t have a title change, and she’ll still go by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe. I would have thought they would change it up, like Queen Emeritus Margrethe or Former Queen Marg. I don’t know. Fred and Mary’s eldest son will now go by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Christian. I assume Fred and Mary’s other children will simply retain their HRHs and prince/princess titles. Meanwhile, Danish republicans are trying to gin up some support for their cause, a cause of making Frederik run for office.

Denmark’s long-marginalised republican movement has launched a recruitment drive in the hope that the recent surprise abdication of the highly popular Queen Margrethe will give it a fresh lease of life. The past half-century has not been kind to the dwindling minority of Danes who believe their country would be better off under an elected head of state.

When Margrethe first ascended the throne in 1972 polls suggested only 45 per cent of the population supported the monarchy after 25 years of rapid and sweeping social changes under her father, Frederik IX. But as Margrethe, 83, prepares to resign on January 14 that number is now 85 per cent. Her personal approval ratings are also among the highest enjoyed by any monarch in the world.

Denmark’s main republican group hopes her departure will finally give it an opening as her successors, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, develop a style and a role of their own.

Republik Now, founded in 2010, has announced a “not my king” campaign that will paint the monarchy as a profligate and unjust institution, drawing in part on discomfort at the lavish spectacle of King Charles’s coronation last May.

“There are a few republicans in Denmark,” said Mads Rundstrom, the organisation’s chairman. “We are working to increase the number significantly. People claim the Danish monarchy is popular, but the same thing was said about the Dutch and British monarchs. Support for both has now fallen to about 50 per cent… I’m sure we will see support for the [Danish] monarchy decline. Margrethe sustained support for the monarchy [but] Frederik will find that much harder to do.”

That may prove to be a misplaced hope. Surveys since Charles’s accession have indicated that at least 60 per cent of Britons would prefer to retain the monarchy. This proportion has essentially stabilised following a gentle decline over the course of the 2010s. Similarly, there is little evidence that the popularity of the monarchy in Denmark will abruptly drop after Margrethe abdicates. A snap poll this week for Danmarks Radio, the national public broadcaster, put Frederik and Mary’s respective approval ratings at 84 and 85 per cent.

However, Rundstrom argued that if Frederik genuinely was that popular then it would do him no harm to obtain a public mandate at the ballot box.

“We would encourage him to take part in a free, fair and democratic election,” Rundstrom said. “It is crucial that any person who wishes to take on this role [as head of state] should respect the democratic process and consult the Danish people. Without this necessary dialogue it is hard to deem a candidate suitable for public service.”

[From The Times]

At a technical level, I would sort of be fine with kings and queens if they were elected or there was some kind of democratic process or general referendum. There’s so much ceremonial bullsh-t that goes along with being head of state – some countries can elect a president to deal with that stuff, or maybe countries can just elect a king. Imagine if one every ten years, there was just a general referendum in which people had to vote yes or no on “should we keep the monarchy?” Anyway, I was surprised by just how popular Margrethe was and is and how much Danes seem to love their monarchy. I’m sure that will change once Fred X is on the throne though.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.