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Agence France-Presse

A rebellious teen turned “woke” family man, Denmark’s future king Crown Prince Frederik is the embodiment of the country’s relaxed, liberal monarchy.
Passionate about the environment, he has discreetly imposed himself in the shadow of his hugely popular mother, Queen Margrethe II, championing Denmark and its drive to find solutions to the climate crisis.
“When the time comes, I will guide the ship,” he said in a speech celebrating his chain-smoking mother’s half century on the throne in 2022.
“I will follow you, as you followed your father” in leading the thousand-year-old institution, Prince Frederik added.

But this measured assurance is a far cry from his younger self.
“He was not strictly speaking a rebel, but as a child and young man, he was very uncomfortable with the media attention and the knowledge that he was going to be king,” said Gitte Redder, an expert on the Danish royal family.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe to step down after 52 years on throne
He only “gained confidence in his mid-20s,” she said.
A lonely and tormented teenager, Frederik resented his parents for neglecting him as they fulfilled their royal obligations.
He sought solace in fast cars and fast living, and was considered a spoiled party prince in the early 1990s.
But that view began to change after he graduated from Aarhus University in 1995, the first Danish royal to complete a university education.
His time at college included a stint at Harvard in the United States, where he was enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen.
The fake surname was a nod to his father, French diplomat Henri de Monpezat who became Prince Consort Henrik when he married Margrethe.

But Frederik - who speaks English, French and German - really began to mature into his role during his time training in the three branches of Denmark’s military.
The prince served in the navy’s Frogmen Corps - where he was nicknamed “Pingo” (Penguin) - one of only four of the 300 recruits to pass all of the tests in 1995.
In 2000, he took part in a four-month, 3,500km (2,175-mile) ski expedition across Greenland.
The 18th birthday bash of Prince Christian, the future king of Denmark!
His daredevil side has landed him in hospital after sledging and scooter accidents, but his popularity has soared, boosted by the Royal Run, annual fun runs across Denmark he began in 2018.
“He is a sportsman, he attends concerts and football matches, which makes him even more accessible than his mother,” royal expert Redder said.
“I don’t want to lock myself in a fortress. I want to be myself, a human being,” he once said, insisting he would stick to that even after taking the throne.

He met his wife Mary Donaldson, an Australian lawyer, in a Sydney bar during the 2000 Olympic Games.
They have tried to give their four children as normal an upbringing as possible, sending them mainly to state schools.
Their eldest, Prince Christian, who recently turned 18, was the first Danish royal to go to daycare.
The couple have gradually taken on many royal duties in recent years as the queen entered her eighties, “but very slowly and depending on the queen’s health”, said historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen.
Meet Denmark’s lucky teen Princess Isabella, Queen Margrethe’s granddaughter
The couple are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports,” he added.
They “do not represent a potential revolution compared to the queen”, but a careful transition adapting to the times, he said.
Frederik has said that he sees himself complementing his mother, a polymath who is an accomplished writer and artist.
“You paint, I exercise. You dig for buried objects from the past, I buried my head in order not to be recognised during my time in the armed forces. You are a master of words. I am sometimes at a loss for them,” he joked during the queen’s jubilee celebrations.


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Royalty

Who is Crown Prince Frederik, Denmark’s popular future king?

Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary, who will become king and queen. Photo: Instagram / @detdanskekongehus

Crown Prince Frederik and Queen Margrethe. Photo: AFP

Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. Photo: AFP

The Danish royal couple and her children. File photo: Reuters

Meet Prince Christian of Denmark, son of Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary – his parents just pulled the 16-year-old out of Herlufsholm School due to shocking revelations

Prince Christian of Denmark is the 16-year-old son of Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary. Photo: @detdanskekongehus/Instagram

Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Princess Isabella, Prince Christian, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent arrive at TV2’s birthday show “Mary 50 years – We celebrate Denmark’s Crown Princess” in Kastrup, Denmark, on February 6. Photo: Reuters

Prince Christian was the first Danish royal to attend a public state school. Photo: @denmark.royal.family/Instagram

Prince Christian with his mother and father, Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, in August 2011. Photo: @hrh_princechristianofdenmark/Instagram

Prince Christian wearing the Herlufsholm uniform. Photo: @detdanskekongehus/Instagram

Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Christian and Princess Mary all dressed up. Photo: @christian.of.denmark/Instagram

Prince Christian is currently 16 years old. Photo: @hrhprincechristianmonpezat/Instagram

Danish Prince Christian waves at the finish line after attending the One Mile run of the Royal Run event in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

A young Prince Christian in 2012. Photo: @hrh_princechristianofdenmark/Instagram

Prince Christian got caught by waves in Australia when he was swimming, but was saved by a lifeguard. Photo: @hrh_princechristianofdenmark/Instagram

Meet Queen Elizabeth’s ‘favourite’ daughter-in-law, Sophie, Countess of Wessex: Prince Edward’s wife worked in PR before royalty, is close to Kate Middleton and suggested the queen watch The Crown

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was close to Queen Elizabeth. Photos: Getty, AP

Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, meet members of the public in Manchester following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Photo: AP

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Queen Elizabeth. Photo: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

Prince Edward and Countess Sophie Wessex at their child James, Viscount Severn’s christening along with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Photo: @louise_windsor2003/Instagram

Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex. Photo: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, bonded over their interest in sports. Photo: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

Prince Edward and his new bride Sophie Rhys-Jones wave to cheering fans following their wedding at Saint George’s Chapel, in 1999. Photo: Reuters

Sophie had a successful PR career before taking on royal duties full time. Photo: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

Prince Edward (right), Earl of Wessex, and his wife Sophie (left), Countess of Wessex, speak with the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip Pierre. Photo: DPA

Sophie’s royal styles has often landed her on magazine pages’ best dressed lists. Photo: @theroyalfamily/Instagram

Prince Edward and his new bride Sophie leave St George’s Chapel in Windsor after their wedding, in 1999. Photo: Reuters

Queen Letizia of Spain’s unusual rise to royalty: before she married King Felipe, she was a TV journalist who was once married to a high school teacher …

From a journalist to becoming the Queen of Spain, Letizia’s rise to royalty is a life that most people can dream of. Photos: @Bluper/Twitter, @letizia_de_princesa_a_reina/Instagram

Letizia was a reporter for local programme 24 Horas before moving on to report for CNN+. Photo: @Bluper/Twitter

Letizia also tried out to be a reporter for the TV programme Madrid Directo. Photo: @pdtelevision/Twitter

A photo of Letizia and Alonso Guerrero Pérez from back in the day. Photo: @prnoticias/Twitter

Alonso Guerrero Pérez is a professor and an author. Photo: @enpaiszeta/Twitter

Spain’s King Felipe VI with Letizia in Madrid, in 2004. Photo: AP 

Letizia and Felipe’s wedding in 2004. Photo: Reuters

Spain’s Queen Letizia with her two daughters – Leonor, Princess of Asturias, and Infanta Sofía

A photo of Letizia when she was a teenager. Photo: @larroschi/Twitter

Spain’s Queen Letizia leaves after attending the 75th anniversary of the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, in 2014. Photo: Reuters

Spanish King Felipe, his wife Queen Letizia and their daughters Sofia and Leonor outside their home in Madrid, Spain, in May 2014. Photo: EPA/Borja Fotografos

‘Royal recipe’: how King Charles eats and exercises to stay fit at 75 – from a live-in vegan chef and plant-rich diet, to skipping lunch and following the Royal Canadian Air Force’s exercise plan

Britain’s super-fit King Charles, skips lunch, eats organic produce and follows the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 5BX exercise plan alongside his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, which includes stretching and push ups daily. Photo: AFP

Britain’s King Charles addresses a press conference at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania, on June 2. Photo: AFP

Prince Charles eats a oyster as he and Camilla visit the Whitstable Oyster Festival in Whitstable, England, in July 2013. Photo: Getty Images

King Charles receives flowers from locals as he arrives at his estate in Valea Zalanului (Zalan Valley), eastern Transylvania, Romania, on June 2. Photo: EPA-EFE

King Charles and Queen Camilla attend a service at Crathie Church, Balmoral, Scotland, in September 2023. Photo: Reuters

King Charles is the “fittest man of his age” that Queen Camilla knows. Photo: Getty Images

Prince William, King Charles, Prince Richard, Princess Anne and Prince Harry walk behind the coffin during the procession for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth in London, England, in September 2022 Photo: TNS

Spain cheers as Crown Princess Leonor comes of age in boost for monarchy

Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor at the Royal Palace in Madrid on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Spanish Crown Princess of Asturias Leonor receives the Spanish Order of Charles III collar from Spain’s King Felipe VI at the Royal Palace in Madrid on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

New commemorative coins with the face of Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor mark the ceremony in which she swore allegiance to the Spanish Constitution at the Spanish Lower House in Zaragoza, Spain on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor (left) and her mother, Queen Letizia, are seen at the Royal Palace in Madrid on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Europe

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II will step down from the throne on January 14
She will be succeeded by her eldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik


A rebellious teen turned ‘woke’ family man, Denmark’s future king Crown Prince Frederik is the embodiment of the country’s relaxed, liberal monarchy.


Nordic nations

Greenland

Who is Crown Prince Frederik, Denmark’s popular future king?

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II will step down from the throne on January 14 She will be succeeded by her eldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II will step down from the throne on January 14

She will be succeeded by her eldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik