Denmark: Queen Margrethe II to abdicate on 14 January 2024

On Sunday 31 December 2023, Queen Margrethe II announced in her televised new year's speech that she had decided to abdicate on 14 January 2024.

The relevant part of the speech said:

Tonight, I would like to express a very special thank you. Thank you for the warmth and devotion which I and my family have received throughout many, many years. 

In two weeks time I have been Queen of Denmark for 52 years. Such an amount will leave its mark on anybody – also on me! The time takes its toll, and the number of “ailments” increases. One cannot undertake as much as one managed in the past. 

In February this year I underwent extensive back surgery. Everything went well, thanks to the competent health personnel, who took care of me. Inevitably, the operation gave cause to thoughts about the future – whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation. 

I have decided that now is the right time. On 14th January, 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik. 

Tonight, I first and foremost would like to express my thanks. Thank you for the overwhelming warmth and support which I have received during all these years. Thank you to the changing governments with whom the collaboration always has been rewarding, and thank you to The Parliament, who have always vested their confidence in me. 

Thank you to the many, many people who on special occasions and in everyday life have embraced me and my family with kind words and thoughts, turning the years into a string of pearls. 

The support and assistance which I have received throughout the years, have been crucial to the success of my task. It is my hope that the new King and Queen will be met with the same trust and devotion which have fallen to my lot. 

They deserve it! Denmark deserves it!

The Royal Court followed by the issuing the following press statement:

Her Majesty the Queen has tonight, in her New Year's Address, announced that Her Majesty will step down as Queen of Denmark on 14th January, 2024 and will hand over the throne to HRH the Crown Prince. 

The Danish Royal Court’s website www.kongehuset.dk will be updated regularly with information regarding the succession of the throne.

On 1 January 2024 the court gave some historical details on the subject of abdication, and today we learned that there will be changes in the Royal House of Denmark's leadership in connection with the change of monarch. The current Chief of the Court of TRH The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess, Christian Schønau, will assume the position of Lord Chamberlain of The Royal House of Denmark on 14 January, replacing Kim Kristensen, who has served as Lord Chamberlain since 2021.

We were all very surprised by the abdication news, as the queen on several occasions in the past has ruled out the possibility. Her ailing health made her to change her mind. So on 14 January 2024, on the day 52 years since she succeeded to the throne of Denmark after the death of her father, King Frederik IX, Queen Margrethe II will formally abdicate and be succeeded by her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, b. 1968, who will reign under the name Frederik X. His wife, the current Crown Princess Mary, b. 1972, becomes Queen and Prince Christian, b. 2005, becomes Crown Prince. Queen Margrethe will after her abdication continue to be styled Majesty, cf. the press statement from the Prime Minister's Office and of the royal court, but will not be formally titled Her Majesty The Queen anylonger, but «only» HM Queen Margrethe.

The possibility to abdicate the throne, even if it is regulated in the Act of Succession section 6, is not a tradition in Denmark, and we have to go back to 1146 to find the last time someone voluntarily gave up the throne. King Erik III Lam, who decided to become a munk, was allegedly of poor health and died later the same year. Christian II (1481–1559) was deposed in 1523 and was thus the last monarch of Denmark not to have died while reigning.

We will surely learn more about how the abdication is carried out legally in due time. One thing is to announce your intention to abdicate, another is how this intention become law. The Act of Succession Section 6 only says that «The provisions of Sections 2-5 shall apply correspondingly in the case of the abdication of a King.» I gather that Queen Margrethe II in the Council of State on 14 January 2024 will give a written and signed declaration of abdication and that this will be added to the Protocol. While abdication has been unheard of in modern Denmark, we have examples of royal members who have renounced their rights to the throne – Prince Carl in 1905 when he became King of Norway, and Princess Anne-Marie when she was to marry King Constantine II of the Hellenes in 1964. Both renunciations were added to the Protocol. As far as I understand, this is the same protocol that is called «Slegt Register over Fødselen i den Kongelige Familie» («Family Register of the Birth in the Royal Family») and is regulated by royal resolution of 25 February 1779. I have never seen the text of this resolution though, so it is possible that also customary law applies. Again, we will surely get more details soon.