King Charles III of the UK isn’t the only one stripping his grandchildren of their prince and princess titles.
On September 28, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced that four of her grandchildren will lose their prince and princess titles as of January 1, 2023. Instead, the children of Prince Joachim, her younger son, will henceforth be referred to as His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat.
Joachim shares sons Prince Nikolai, 23, and Prince Felix, 20, with his first wife, Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. He also shares a 13-year-old son, Prince Henrik, and a 10-year-old daughter, Princess Athena, with his current wife, Princess Marie.
For now, the four children of Joachim’s brother and sister-in-law, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, will keep their royal titles, as 16-year-old Prince Christian is expected to take over the monarchy in the future.
“With her decision, Her Majesty The Queen wishes to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves,” the official palace statement regarding Prince Joachim’s children read. “All four grandchildren maintain their places in the order of succession.”
According to People, however, the decision was also allegedly made in an effort to “streamline” the royal family. Sound familiar? Think of Joachim as Prince Harry, Prince Frederik as Prince William, and Queen Margarethe as King Charles, and everything feels like deja vu.
Before Queen Elizabeth II’s death, a major point of contention between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the British royal family was the decision not to grant the Sussex children official HRH titles (and the additional security measures such titles provide). Upon her death, Archie and Lilibet were reportedly automatically upgraded to prince and princess as the grandchildren of the current monarch, but that’s once again up in the air because of King Charles’ ongoing preoccupation with “working royals.”
A source told The Sun, “That is the agreement—they can be prince and princess but not HRH because they are not working royals,” which reportedly left Harry and Meghan “furious.” Meanwhile, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie aren’t “working royals” but retain their HRH titles.
King Charles will reportedly make a decision after Prince Harry’s memoir and Netflix docuseries are released….
Like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie do not seem happy about the change. In a new interview with Danish outlet B.T., per People, the prince says he has not spoken to his mother or brother since the announcement.
“It’s complicated, namely. That’s it,” Princess Marie told the interviewer when asked about the family dynamic, noting that they “would have liked to have had time to talk about it.” Prince Joachim added, “It’s also family. Or whatever we want to call it.”
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