Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark ‘was not part of the meeting’ between his mother Queen Margrethe II and his younger brother over royal titles, the Royal Household confirmed — after Prince Joachim admitted the siblings’ relationship is ‘complicated’
13.03.2023Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark ‘was not part of the meeting’ between his mother Queen Margrethe II and his younger brother over royal titles, the Royal Household confirmed — after Prince Joachim admitted the siblings’ relationship is ‘complicated’.
Margrethe, 82, and her youngest son Joachim engaged in peace talks this week to try and smooth tensions that have arisen after the monarch announced last week she would be stripping his four children, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, of their royal titles, which he claimed had ‘hurt’ them.
Heir to the throne Frederick and his wife Princess Mary’s four children — Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 — remain unaffected by Margrethe’s decision as they are direct descendants of the future King.
Following the meeting, the palace confirmed that the monarch and Joachim want to ‘look forward’ and are trying to ‘find their way through’ their differences — however, Frederik did not attend the meeting at Fredensborg.
Danish publication reported: ‘According to the Royal House, the Crown Prince was not part of the meeting’, with a statement from the palace reading: ‘ and Prince Joachim have spoken together at Fredensborg.Everyone agrees to look forward, and as the Queen herself has expressed, she and Prince Joachim want calm to find their way through this situation.’
It comes after Joachim, 53, and his second wife Princess Marie, 46, who is mother to his youngest two children, said their relationship with Frederik and his wife Princess Mary, 50, is ‘complicated’.
But as the conflict brewed between the Danish royals, Spanish magazine claimed the real reason for the rift was because Joachim ‘was deeply in love with his sister-in-law Mary’.
Prince Frederik of Denmark ‘was not part of the meeting’ between his mother Queen Margrethe II and his younger brother over royal titles, the Royal Household confirmed — after Prince Joachim admitted the siblings’ relationship is ‘complicated’.Pictured, Frederik and Joachim in August 2022
Queen Margrethe (centre, in 2015) had a meeting with Prince Joachim (right) following animosity after he said his children were ‘hurt’ by her decision to remove their princely titles (Left: Crown Prince Frederik)
The news comes as a Spanish magazine reported the Prince had been ‘deeply in love’ with his sister-in-law and Crown Prince Frederik’s wife, Princess Mary.Pictured in 2014
Tensions began to grow last week in the Danish Royal Family after Queen Margrethe, declared Prince Joachim’s children, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, were to be counts and countesses as of 1 January 2020 and known as Their Excellencies, rather than their Royal Highnesses (pictured with their parents on the Queen’s golden Jubilee in September)
<img id="i-842fac474d5adb3" website height="891" width="962" alt="The Danish Royal Family tree. Prince Joachim's chil, royal house expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen said: 'It is a completely unusual situation, it is historic, and it shows something about the seriousness that the Queen feels called to make such a personal announcement in a press release.
‘It is quite unusual and she has never done this before. It shows that there is a huge conflict.’
Mr Sørensen added the Queen’s statement was a way of ‘trying to close this conflict’ and draw a line under it, following several days of turbulence between the monarch and her youngest son.
Last Thursday Prince Joachim told Ekstra Bladet his children had been ‘hurt’ by their grandmother’s decision to remove their princely titles and make them counts and countesses, adding he had only had a few days to break the news to them before it was announced publicly.
However, according to Mr Sørensen: ‘You cannot have members or former members of the royal house constantly speaking in the press about the Queen’s decision and discussing back and forth with each other in full public view.’
In a statement released online, the Queen said she had made the decision as ‘a mother, grandmother and monarch’ and ‘no one should doubt’ her family are ‘her great pride and joy’
He added Queen Margrethe ‘had to say something’ following Prince Joachim’s public comments.
In a statement, the monarch admitted she had ‘underestimated’ the impact of her actions but said it was ‘a long time coming’ and it had been made as ‘a Queen, mother and grandmother.’
Another royal expert, Jacob Heinel Jensen, agreed the Queen felt ‘compelled’ to issue a public statement about the reported animosity and toldHere’s more in regards to homepage stop by the web page.