The rock music loving, sporty prince set to take Denmark’s monarchy into a new era as king

Crown Prince Frederik’s mother Queen Margrethe will abdicate the throne on Sunday after 52 years. Her son will have to find the balance between upholding tradition and being himself, writes Jakob Illeborg in Copenhagen

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, right, and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty)

Crown Prince Frederik, the popular 55-year-old who will become king of Denmark on Sunday in Copenhagen, must find the right balance between renewing the royal family’s bond with a new generation of Danes while maintaining the relevance of the 1,000-year-old monarchy. And being himself.

He has had two weeks to gather his thoughts, after his 83-year-old mother shocked the nation in her new year address.

At 6pm on 31 December, it is the norm in Denmark to watch Queen Margrethe II’s speech with friends and family while toasting with some bubbly. Such is the esteem in which the queen is held, the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, in her own new year speech, declared that the monarch had converted her from a republican to a royalist. The audience for the queen’s new year address regularly surpasses 2 million and in 2021, more than 3.3 million Danes watched her speech – almost 60 per cent of the population.

Frederik runs during the Royal Run in 2023 (Reuters)

The bookmakers offer odds on which words she will use in the speech. Yet few would have guessed the key word of the latest speech: abdication. No one knew; even Crown Prince Frederik was only told a few days in advance. The Danes couldn’t believe their ears. Queen Margrethe once said: “They will have to carry me out, feet first.” For a thousand years, the reigning monarch of Europe’s oldest monarchy has not left their throne alive. But Queen Margrethe said back surgery at the start of 2023 had brought a period of reflection.

The queen has successfully embraced a fast-changing nation while not shying away from softly making a stand. Last year, she met Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in Copenhagen, and she has often expressed her disdain for autocrats. As far back as 1984 she touched on the issue of migration, a key electoral issue today. She talked about how Danes speak to and about immigrant workers: “And then we come with our ‘Danish sense of humour’ and little cocky remarks. We greet them with a certain chill, and from there, it’s a slippery slope,” the queen said.

Margrethe and Frederik on the queen’s birthday on 16 April, 2017 (Reuters)

That caused a bit of a stir. But the queen has played her cards well and, despite her 83 years, leaves the stage on her terms.

Almost 30 years ago, in 1996, Frederik told the newspaper Berlingske Tidende that during his teenage years, he sometimes wondered whether he could escape his fate. “I thought it was too uncomfortable,” the crown prince said at the time. “You knew you were going to be so public, so known, so accessible to everyone and so depicted. I didn’t like that.” Queen Margrethe II’s decision to abdicate – having become the longest-serving monarch in Denmarks’ history – throws him fully into the spotlight.

It is a position he has grown more comfortable in over the years. There will certainly be less pomp than the coronation of King Charles III in London last May. As has been the case since the constitution was introduced in 1849, there will not even be a ceremony. There will however be a big, public party in Copenhagen.

Frederik as a soldier, in Hilleroed, Denmark, 1986 (Reuters)

Frederik, who is regarded as a young 55, is well-liked among the Danes. As is his Australian wife, Mary Donaldson, who will be Queen Mary on Sunday. Frederik, who trained in Denmark’s elite naval special operations force, has a reputation as a bit of an action man. The couple have four children, and when they were younger, the Prince could be seen in Copenhagen picking up his kids from kindergarten on a Christiana bicycle, produced in the famous “free town” of Copenhagen.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Crown Prince Frederik on several occasions, and what has struck me is his detailed knowledge of popular music. I remember him commenting on The Clash bass player Paul Simonon while Damon Albarn’s supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen was playing on the stereo. Paul Simonon also played in Damon Albarn’s band, but not too many people know that. On another occasion, he complimented John Coltrane while listening to Duke ElIington’s “In a Sentimental Mood”.

Still, for his apparent coolness, taking the reins from his much-beloved mother is not going to be an easy task, according to a close friend of Frederik, the London-based Danish restaurateur Soren Jessen. “His biggest challenge will be to communicate to the next generation the relevance of the monarchy as a stabilising connection to our cultural heritage in a world where political institutions and the establishment are increasingly challenged,” Jessen, who runs 1 Lombard Street, tells The Independent.

Frederik has already been in political hot water. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for 12 years. Critics pointed out that according to the Danish constitution, the royal family is supposed to be apolitical and some of the IOCs work could have a political dimension. On the other hand, he is an active person who leads the Royal Run, a public race around Copenhagen, every year.

“He is current and understands issues that matter to people in the 21st century. He’s a champion of health and sport as a former Navy Seal, a marathon runner, and Iron Man,” says Jessen.

Finding the right balance between tradition and reform will be key. Some will argue that being king means stepping away from the person he has been, letting go of his passion for sport and music, and becoming a more classic, distant royal. But changing yourself to fit in is not always the answer, and even if the Danish monarchy is very popular, almost 20 per cent of the population are republicans.

Being out of reach is not necessarily the recipe for a successful modern monarchy. His grandfather, King Christian X, rode his horse around Copenhagen every morning without bodyguards during the German occupation. The Danes loved this. Staying true to himself may be the best way forward for the soon-to-be Frederik X of Denmark.