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The next generational change is underway at one of Europe’s seven royal families. After the Netherlands (2013), Belgium (2013), Spain (2014) and the UK (2022), it’s now Denmark’s turn. Queen Margarete II, 83, will hand over her royal scepter to her son Frederik for the first time in exactly 52 years on Sunday. on the throne.
The surprise announcement from the Danish royal family also follows this trend. With the exception of the British royal family, many monarchs no longer die on the throne. Instead, they retire and make way for their children.
Frederick, 55, from Denmark, has already spent his entire life preparing for this job. But, according to his biographer, it was something he was unwilling to take on. “I don’t want to be king,” he is said to have cried to his nurse as a child.
Frederick’s uninhibited days as a rebellious “prince of the party” are long gone. He and his Australian wife Mary produced an heir to the throne and ensured the continuity of Europe’s oldest dynasty. Opinion polls have found that 80% of Danes are satisfied with their rulers, and his subjects appear to agree.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Haakon of Norway will take their respective thrones next. Queen Victoria is set to succeed her father, Charles XVI Gustaf, who has been on the throne for more than 50 years. Haakon will succeed his 86-year-old father, King Harald V, who is currently in poor health and rarely appears in public.
Royal “melodrama”
In Europe, kings and queens generally have ceremonial roles and have little political power. This also applies to the royal families of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, as well as the small country of Monaco, where Grand Duke Albert II has a relatively strong position. Andorra, another small country nestled between the high valleys of France and Spain, has two co-princes who always serve as heads of state. One of the princes is Bishop Urgel of Spain. The other is the President of France. This means that Emmanuel Macron is not only currently the President of the French Republic, but also the Prince of parliamentary democracy Andorra.
The Vatican is the only elected monarchy in Europe where the throne is not hereditary. Pope Francis is not only the head of the Catholic Church, but also the absolute ruler of Vatican City, the world’s smallest state.
“I think most people in states with monarchies actually enjoy their monarchy,” said Monika Wienfort, a historian and royal expert at the University of Potsdam. In her seven sovereign royal houses and her five principalities in Europe, no serious efforts have been made to abolish this form of government. He said the resignations and succession have continued without a hitch, apart from some small protests by Republican-leaning groups.
Royal power continued throughout Europe, where there were no revolutionary upheavals, such as France, Italy, Austria, and Germany. Almost all royals are related in some way to each other, primarily to German aristocrats, so there’s always the possibility that they could live with relatives in a pinch, Wienford said.
The royal family thrives on tradition, gossip, scandal and the public display of a happy family life, increasingly free of glitz and glamor. In 2008, Britain’s then-Prince Charles said of the family, “We think it’s a melodrama.” His father, Philip, once described the Windsors as a company with a mission to produce beautiful images in return for taxpayers. money.
There are 43 monarchies in the world
The monarchical model governs 22% of the world’s countries, or 43 of the 194 officially recognized states. In addition to Europe, monarchies are also found in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many of them date back to the British Empire, and the British monarch still serves as head of state in 14 countries outside Europe, including Canada and Australia. Japan is the only empire in the world, but the emperor has a purely ceremonial duty in the country’s democracy.
In six countries, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and the aforementioned Vatican City, the monarch, sheikh, or emir is an absolute ruler who is not subject to parliamentary or judicial control. In some countries, such as Jordan and Morocco, the king has constitutional political power. In Asia, Malaysia has the only major elected monarchy, currently held by Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, and decided by the sultans of the country’s nine states. In the United Arab Emirates, the position of head of state also rotates between emirs, who are the authoritarian leaders of their respective principalities.
There are no tabloids in the Middle East that publicly report on royal drama, but gossip about monarchs is big business in Europe. Even without the Queen, who ruled for 70 years and died in 2022, the market leader remains the British royal family. The nation’s interest in the dysfunctional family drama surrounding King Charles. his sons, William and Harry; And his wife Camila is stable.
“The charm comes from the spectacle of the everyday,” Wienfort said. Royals do completely normal things like marry, raise children, and die. But their biographies are representative, lavish, or even pompous, she says. People like to see carriages, uniforms, dresses, castles, etc., even if they are not particularly awe-struck by them.
Being a monarch also brings fairy-tale-level benefits. A US business magazine estimates that Thailand’s Rama X, the world’s richest king, is worth between $30 billion and $43 billion (€27.3 billion to 39 billion euros). Europe’s richest prince is Liechtenstein’s King Hans Adam II, with approximately $3.5 billion. The personal fortune of King Charles III of the United Kingdom is $1.8 billion (1.6 billion euros).
On Sunday, Denmark’s Margaret II will hand over a relatively paltry $30 million in the royal coffers to her son Frederik, but it will certainly be enough to hold a real court. It’s also far more expensive than the King of Spain has to make ends meet, making him the lowest of any European royal family at just $10 million.
This article was originally written in German.
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