Royal twins expected in Denmark

The Danish Royal Court announced yesterday, 6 August 2010, the wonderful news that Crown Princess Mary, née Donaldson, wife of Crown Prince Frederik, is expecting twins in January 2011. Rumours about a possible pregnancy had been circulating earlier in the week, and for once the media was right.

The Danish Crown Prince couple has two children, Prince Christian, b. 2005, and Princess Isabella, b. 2007. The twins will bring the number of grandchildren for Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik up to seven. The twins will become no. 4 and 5 in the line of succession to the Danish throne.

The current line of succession is as follows:

1. HRH Crown Prince Frederik, b. 1968
2. HRH Prince Christian, b. 2005
3. HRH Princess Isabella, b. 2007
4. HRH Prince Joachim, b. 1969
5. HH Prince Nikolai, b. 1999
6. HH Prince Felix, b. 2002
7. HH Prince Henrik, b. 2009
8. HRH Princess Benedikte, b. 1944
9. HH Princess Elisabeth, b. 1935

See also the Act of Succession (tronfølgeloven; in Danish) and Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard's article Conditional Consent, Dynastic Rights and the Danish Law of Succession, 1999.

Limited ot the Glücksburg dynasty, this will be the first time a set of twins has been born into the Danish royal house. But in the extended family we have Comtesse Camilla and Comtesse Josephine of Rosenborg, b. 1972 (daughters of Count Christian and Countess Anne-Dorthe of Rosenborg) and Count Axel and Count Birger of Rosenborg, b. 1950 (sons of Count Flemming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg). And if we include all the descendants of King Christian IX, there are of course more examples, including Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric of Belgium, b. 2005 (children of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium) and Prince Léopold and Princess Charlotte of Nassau, b. 2000 (children of Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg).