Life
Princess Margrethe was born at Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen. Her parents were Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid. She was baptised on 14 May 1940 at the Naval Church in Copenhagen. As King Christian X of Denmark was also the King of Iceland at the time of her birth, the Princess was given an Icelandic name, Þórhildur (spelled with the Icelandic thorn character, simplified as "th").
She studied archaeology at Girton College, Cambridge, from 1960 to 1961. She was also at the London School of Economics in 1965.
Margrethe was not born to be monarch, even though she was the eldest child of the Crown Prince, later King. At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark.
The act of succession was changed in 1953.
Her father King Frederik IX died in 1972, and Queen Margrethe II became the first female Danish Sovereign.
In 2018, her husband Prince Henrik died of pneumonia in February and her first cousin Princess Elisabeth died in June.
On 31 December 2023, during her annual New Year's Eve address, Margrethe announced that she will abdicate the throne in favour of her son, Crown Prince Frederik, on 14 January 2024, exactly 52 years after she ascended the throne to Frederik X.
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