They stripped their grandchildren of their titles and quit smoking at 83: the extraordinary life of Europe’s bravest queen

Margrethe was born on April 16, 1940, just a week after Nazi Germany invaded Denmark. Margrethe was the first of three daughters of the then Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid (later King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid). Her sisters are Queen Anna Maria of Greece, who lost her husband Constantine II in January 2023, and Princess Benedikt of Denmark.

The news that Margrethe was to become Queen of Denmark came to her as a teenager. In 1953, a change to the country’s constitution resulted in a woman taking precedence over male relatives for the first time (otherwise her uncle, Prince Knud, would have inherited the throne).

So when she ascended the throne in 1972, Margrethe became only the second Danish queen in history. The first was the queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Margrethe I, who lived and ruled in the XIV – early XV centuries.

But before the coronation, Margrethe managed to live life to the fullest, as they say. The girl spent her childhood in Copenhagen in apartments in the Amalienborg palace, studied at a private city school and even spent a year abroad at the North Foreland Lodge in Hampshire, Great Britain. The future queen then studied archeology at Cambridge University and political science at Aarhus University. And then she also found time to study at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. Margrethe is fluent in five languages, including Danish, English, French, Swedish and German.

But the main thing (after state activities) in the life of the queen was art, which she loved from her youth. Margrethe has created sketches for stamps, theater costumes and backdrops, and today her solo exhibitions are held in Denmark.

In the 1960s, Margrethe also threw herself into the bohemian life. Together with her cousins, Princess Astrid of Norway and Princess Margareta of Sweden, she visited Hollywood, where she met the most famous men of those years: Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

The jet princess also did not desire a healthy lifestyle, and she did not acquire bad habits somewhere in bad company, but at home. So, the parents of the future queen were smokers, and once their daughter was addicted to cigarettes.

Queen Margrethe recalled in her memoirs how she started smoking at the age of 17: “My father and mother smoked when I was growing up. One day they asked me if I wanted a cigarette. In fact, I’ve been smoking ever since.”

Smoking eventually became an integral part of her image, but this regularly caused public outrage. The Queen smoked in public, in front of her children and grandchildren, and reacted phlegmatically to any prompting.

When she recently began to have health problems and the doctors tried to reason with Margrethe again, she simply replied: “I’m so old now that it doesn’t matter if I smoke or not.”

But after back surgery at the age of 83, the Queen broke the habit anyway.

Queen Margrethe has often been compared to the late Elizabeth II. And indeed there are parallels: both came to the throne due to changed circumstances, ruled for a long time and were known for their character. But there is one more thing in common – both queens are monogamous.

Margrethe also lived with one man all her life, separated only by death. The Queen was widowed in 2018.

Margrethe was married to French diplomat Henri de Laborde de Monpezat for more than 50 years. They met in London at a gala dinner at the French embassy and kept their relationship a secret from the media until the official engagement. During the proposal, the romantic French gave his bride a ring with two large square diamonds – each stone was supposed to symbolize one of them, forever connected.

The couple were married on 10 June 1967. The bride wore a lace dress by her grandmother, Princess Margaret of Connaught, and wore the Danish royal wedding tiara, the Khedive of Egypt. This jewel from “Cartier” was presented to grandmother Margrethe by the ruler of Egypt, Abbas II, in 1905.

Despite such luxurious accompaniment, the ceremony itself lasted only 20 minutes, at the request of the bride, who wants to be no different from “normal” couples. The groom, now known as Prince Henrik, learned his vows in Danish as a sign of respect for his new family. The couple had two children: Prince Frederik (now Crown Prince) and Prince Joachim.

Throughout her reign, Margrethe enjoyed incredible support from her subjects – the Queen’s approval rating reached a phenomenal 80%. But a few years ago, the ruler made all the headlines in the country after her controversial decision to modernize the monarchy. Margrethe began by depriving her grandchildren, the children of her youngest son—Nicholas, Felix, Henrik, and Athena—of the titles of princes and princesses.

This move was a shock not only to the country but also to her own family. Margrethe subsequently apologized to her relatives, but emphasized her “duty and desire to ensure the formation of the monarchy in accordance with the times”. Prince Joachim later announced his plans to move with his wife, Princess Mary, to Washington to take up a new position at the Danish Embassy.

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