Margrethe II (Denmark)
Margrethe II of Denmark – pronunciation: [mɑˈg̊ʁeːɪ̯d̥ə] , Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid – (born April 16, 1940 at Amalienborg Palace , Copenhagen ) has been the reigning queen since January 14, 1972 and thus head of state of Denmark ( Danish Danmarks Dronning ), the Faroe Islands and Greenland . She comes from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , a branch line of the House of Oldenburg . A change in the line of succession made Margrethe Crown Princess on March 27, 1953.
Life
Danish royal family |
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childhood and education
Princess Margrethe was born on April 16, 1940 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen . She was the eldest daughter of the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Ingrid of Sweden . The reigning monarch was her paternal grandfather, Christian X.
At the time of her birth, Denmark was under German occupation . Margrethe is the last Danish princess who also received an Icelandic first name with the name Þórhildur : Iceland was part of the kingdom until the declaration of independence in 1944. After her father was proclaimed king in 1947, her uncle Knut of Denmark was the heir to the throne before a change in the constitution in 1953 made female succession possible.
After graduating from the private grammar school N. Zahles Skole in 1959, she studied prehistoric archeology at the University of Cambridge in 1960/61 and political science at Aarhus University in 1961/62 . In 1963 she moved to the Sorbonne in Paris and in 1965 to the London School of Economics and Political Science . In addition to her native Danish language , Margrethe is fluent in English , German , French and Swedish , as well as some Faroese .
marriage and family
In Copenhagen's Holmens Kirke , Margrethe married French diplomat Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat ( Prince Henrik of Denmark ) on 10 June 1967. On June 10, 2017, the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on the state yacht Dannebrog . Prince Henrik passed away in February 2018.
From the connection two sons emerged:
Margrethe II is the sister of Princess Benedikte zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Anne-Marie of Greece .
Official Tasks
Margrethe II is the Danish head of state. Every law requires their signature in order to be valid; this must be countersigned by a minister. The Queen appoints and dismisses the head of government according to parliamentary majorities. She is regularly informed about the current political situation by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. However, the Queen has no influence on day-to-day politics and never publicly takes a position on political issues.
Margrethe II enjoys a high reputation among the Danish people. She takes her representative duties very seriously. It makes up to three state visits abroad each year and usually receives just as many heads of state in Denmark. There are also annual visits to Greenland and the Faroe Islands .
The Queen 's New Year's speech will be broadcast live from Amalienborg Palace on New Year's Eve at 6 p.m. The Danish head of government, on the other hand, traditionally speaks on New Year's Day .
Queen Margrethe is patron of over 100 organizations in Denmark and ten organizations abroad. She is also active as chairwoman of various foundations .
Queen Margrethe is closely associated with the Royal Life Guards (Danish: Den Kongelige Livgarde ). Once a year, as the high point of the closing parade, she presents a wristwatch ( Dronningens Ur (Queen's watch)) as a personal honor to a retiring conscript of the Royal Life Guards who has distinguished himself particularly during his service.
Interests
Margrethe has also gained notoriety as a graphic designer , painter and translator . She has designed various postage stamps and illustrated numerous books, including the 1977 Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings , under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer . She has designed church vestments, theater costumes and stage sets. In 2009, she designed costumes and sets for a film for the first time, The Swans , based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Numerous exhibitions of her works at home and abroad bear witness to her recognition as a painter. On October 2, 2016, Margrethe presented an altar hanging designed by her as a gift for the reopening of the restored Castle Church in Wittenberg .
Margrethe II has repeatedly worked as a translator since 1981. She has already translated works by Simone de Beauvoir (together with her husband Prince Henrik), Stig Strömholm and Eric Linklater into Danish .
religion
Queen Margrethe is a member of the Danish People 's Church and thus Evangelical Lutheran . She is a believer and has acquired a comprehensive theological education. In the 1970s, Count Hans Schack, who was interested in theology, set up a theological study group for her at Schackenborg Castle . Pastors , bishops and professors of theology attended these meetings and discussed church rituals, religious scriptures and church history with the Queen. On Sundays, Margrethe II appears unannounced in various churches across the country to take part in the service .
residences
The Queen's official residences are Palais Schack ( Palace Amalienborg ) in downtown Copenhagen and Fredensborg Palace outside Copenhagen. During the summer she traditionally stays for a few weeks at Gravenstein Castle near Sønderborg (German: Sonderburg), the widow's seat of her mother Ingrid , who died in 2000 . She also regularly uses Marselisborg Palace near Aarhus , where the royal family often gathers during the summer holidays and at Christmas. She also has the royal yacht Dannebrog as her official residence for visits within and outside of Denmark . The official residences also include Castle Sorgenfri near Copenhagen, which has not been used by Queen Margrethe until now, but most recently by her cousin Count Christian von Rosenborg (1942-2013) and his wife Anne Dorte (1947-2014). Privately, the royal family maintains the castle of Château de Cayx in France.
worth mentioning
Queen Margrethe's motto is: Guds hjælp, folkets kærlighed, Danmarks styrke ("God's help, people's love, Denmark's strength").
Her first state visit was to Sweden in 1973, where she was received by her maternal grandfather, King Gustav VI of Sweden.
The designer Sigvard Bernadotte , a maternal uncle, named his Margrethe mixing bowl after her in 1950.
Her heavy consumption of cigarettes in public was controversial. She reportedly smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, earning her the nickname "Vulcan Queen " on the tabloids . However, since 2007 she is said to have cut back on tobacco smoking .
On September 4, 2019, Queen Margrethe arrived on board the state yacht Dannebrog for a four-day visit to the port of Flensburg . The occasion was, among other things, the start of the official celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the German-Danish state border .
ancestors and descendants
Margrethe II is related to many European monarchs, e.g. B. is her closest relative Carl XVI. Gustaf of Sweden who is her first cousin. Then follows Harald V , who is her second cousin, and Elizabeth II , who is her third cousin.
Ancestors and descendants of Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark | ||||||||||
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great-great-grandparents |
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Grand Duke |
Grand Duke |
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Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden |
Prince |
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great grandparents |
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Grand Duke |
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Duke |
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grandparents |
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parents |
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Queen Margrethe II of Denmark (* 1940) ⚭ 1967 Henri de Laborde de Monpezat (1934–2018) |
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children |
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Prince Joachim of Denmark (b. 1969) |
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grandson |
Prince Christian of Denmark (born 2005) |
Princess Isabella of Denmark (born 2007) |
Prince Vincent of Denmark (born 2011) |
Princess Josephine of Denmark (born 2011) |
Prince Nicholas of Denmark (b. 1999) |
Prince Felix of Denmark (born 2002) |
Prince Henrik of Denmark (born 2009) |
Princess Athena of Denmark (b. 2012) |
See also
- List of Kings of Denmark
- Family tree of the Danish kings
- List of kings over the Faroe Islands
- New Year's speech by the Danish Queen
literature
- Jens Andersen: M. 40 år på tronen. Verlag Lindhardt & Ringhof, Copenhagen 2011, ISBN 978-87-11-41969-4 . Authorized biography (Danish).
- Bo Bramsen: Huset Glücksborg. Europe's svigerfader and hans efterslægt. Volume 2, Copenhagen 2002, ISBN 87-553-3230-7 (Danish).
web links
- Literature by and about Margrethe II in the German National Library catalogue
- Homepage of the Danish monarchy ( Danish , English , French )
- Peter-Philipp Schmitt: 75 years Queen Margrethe: Danes do not reprimand. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine . 16 April 2015, retrieved 14 May 2015 .
itemizations
- ↑ Kongehuset: Dronning i 45 år , selection of images from Queen Margrethe on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the throne in 2017, texts in Danish, accessed 18 January 2017
- ↑ a b c d Hendes Majestæt Dronning Margrethe II , Danish Queen's official website at kongehuset.dk (Danish), retrieved 16 June 2014.
- ↑ Bo Bramsen: Huset Glücksborg. Europe's svigerfader and hans efterslægt. Copenhagen 2002. Volume 2, pp. 404–407 (Danish).
- ↑ Text of the Act of Succession to the Throne (Bekendtgørelse af tronfølgeloven) in Danish , retrieved 15 January 2016
- ↑ Website kongehuset.dk: Bryllupsbilleder fra det private arkiv (Wedding pictures from the private archive), 10 June 1967 , Danish, accessed 13 June 2017
- ↑ Website kongehuset.dk: Øjebliksbilleder fra guldbryllupsdagen , Danish, accessed 13 June 2017
- ↑ website Danish. Royal House (kongehuset.dk): Overrækkelse af 'Dronningens Ur' (Eng. handing over of 'Dronningens Ur'), 30 June 2017, Danish , retrieved 19 July 2017
- ↑ Danish queen designs costumes for fairy tale film. September 5, 2009, retrieved September 24, 2009 .
- ↑ WAZ: Restored Castle Church Wittenberg celebrates reopening, October 2, 2016 , retrieved on October 4, 2016
- ↑ The Queen of Denmark's official website (kongehuset.dk): Visit to Wittenberg , English, accessed 4 October 2016
- ↑ HRH Prinsgemalen on the Danish website. Royal House (Danish), accessed 15 January 2016
- ↑ Jens Andersen: M. 40 år på tronen. Verlag Lindhardt & Ringhof, Copenhagen 2011, ISBN 978-87-11-41969-4 . Authorized biography (Danish), pp. 99–105.
- ↑ Slotte og Kongeskibet/Residenser, ( Memento of 3 June 2014 at the Internet Archive ) Presentation of the residences on the website of the Danish royal family kongehuset.dk (Danish).
- ↑ Jens Andersen: M. 40 år på tronen. Verlag Lindhardt & Ringhof, Copenhagen 2011, ISBN 978-87-11-41969-4 . Authorized biography (Danish), p. 30.
- ↑ Jens Andersen: M. 40 år på tronen. Verlag Lindhardt & Ringhof, Copenhagen 2011, ISBN 978-87-11-41969-4 . Authorized biography (Danish), pp. 76–77.
- ↑ https://www.bunte.de/royals/daenemark-es-lebe-die-vulkankoenigin-34451.html
- ↑ Arrival in the sea of flags - Flensburg celebrates Margrethe II. In: ndr.de. September 3, 2019, retrieved September 5, 2019 .
predecessor | government office | successor |
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Frederick IX |
Queen of Denmark since 1972 |
Designated: Frederik of Denmark |
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Margaret II |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Margrethe Alexandrine Þorhildur Ingrid; Grathmer, Ingahild (pseudonym) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | danish queen |
BIRTH DATE | April 16, 1940 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Copenhagen |