QUEEN MARGRETHE
SHOCK AS EUROPE’S LONGEST-REIGNING MONARCH ABDICATES
PASSES BATON TO CROWN PRINCE FREDERIK AFTER 52 YEARS ON DANISH THRONE
Queen Margrethe (inset above) waves as she travels to Denmark’s Christiansborg Palace in the 19th-century Gold Coach, after announcing her plan to abdicate live on TV on New Year’s Eve (below)
The monarch and her husband Prince Henrik (together inset above), who died in 2018
Making a poignant final carriage ride as monarch, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was cheered by thousands of people who lined the snow-covered streets of Copenhagen ahead of her formal abdication.
‘Thank you for the over whelming warmth and support I have received during all these years. Now is the right time’
Four days after making the shock announcement that she was to stand down, the Queen waved from the 19th-century Gold Coach as it was pulled by six white horses from Amalienborg, the Danish royal family’s official residence, to Christiansborg Palace, where she attended the country’s traditional New Year reception for diplomats.