COPENHAGEN, 14th January, 2024 (WAM) -- Denmark's Queen Margrethe II gave up the throne on Sunday to her son Frederik, who was then proclaimed the new king of Denmark by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The 83-year-old signed her abdication declaration after a 52-year-reign at a meeting with the government in Copenhagen on Sunday, as television footage from Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish parliament, showed, DPA reported.
The former crown prince then symbolically took his mother's place at the table. "God bless the king," said Margrethe as she left the hall, then drove back to Amalienborg Palace, the official residence of the Danish royal family.
Margrethe stunned Denmark by announcing in her New Year's speech that she would be abdicating on January 14 and that she intended to hand over the throne to her eldest son.
She justified the move with a major back operation that she underwent in February. The operation made her think about whether it was time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation, the monarch said in her New Year's speech, which is traditionally watched closely by the Danish population.