AS King Charles ponders a slimmed-down monarchy and considers opinion polls clamouring for him to remove Harry and Meghan’s titles, he will not be able to ignore a royal rumpus in Denmark.
Queen Margrethe II, who has been popular throughout her 50-year reign, abruptly stripped titles from four of her eight grandchildren — and saw her popularity plummet.
Jacob Heinel Jensen, royal correspondent for national tabloid BT, told The Sun: “Last year was her Golden Jubilee and she came into the year with over 80 per cent approving of her.
“When the year was over, she was down to 69 per cent. She had lost 11 per cent because of the way she handled the removing of the titles.
“It shows those in Britain that’s the danger with this kind of thing.”
The Press dubbed Margrethe “Ice Queen” and “Crazy Daisy”, while the public’s outrage is said to have taken her by surprise.
Her youngest son Prince Joachim was told that his four children — Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, ten — would no longer be able to use the title of prince and princess after the start of this year.
He says it was a royal courtier who broke the news just five days before the official announcement.
Insiders say the “introverted” Queen didn’t want to have an “awkward” conversation with the Prince herself.
Joachim raged: “It’s never fun to see your children being harmed. They have been put in a situation they do not understand.”
Like Charles, it seems Margrethe — now the longest-serving living monarch in the world after Queen Elizabeth’s death — had decided only a smaller, more selective royal unit would survive the pressures of the modern age.
She said removing the titles from Joachim’s children would allow them to “shape their own lives, without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation to the royal house of Denmark entails.”
But Princess Marie, Joachim’s second wife and mother of Henrick and Athena, snapped back: “There’s nothing modern about hurting children’s feelings.”
Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, Joachim’s first wife and mother of Nikolai and Felix, also piled in, saying: “They’ll always have the sense of duty they grew up with, whatever they do in the future.
“They can’t start living private lives now. It’s too late.”
The four young royals have maintained their positions in the line of succession but are now Counts and Countess and referred to as Their Excellencies.
Queen Margrethe’s other four grandchildren — Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and 12-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine — whose father is Queen Margrethe’s eldest son and heir Crown Prince Frederik, 54, will keep their titles.
Jacob pointed out: “You take away the title, but it doesn’t have any financial impact on the institution because the grandchildren were not getting any royal allowance.”
It’s food for thought for Charles, who is under pressure to strip the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of their titles following the damaging revelations of Harry’s memoir Spare.
A Sun poll last week showed that 65 per cent think Harry’s continued use of his royal titles risks embarrassing the Royal Family, and 53 per cent believe he should be stripped of his title.
Other European monarchies have made similar moves as the Danish queen’s without suffering the same level of outrage.
In 2019, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden stripped five of his grandchildren of their Royal Highness titles and duties, along with the yearly taxpayer-funded maintenance grant given to members of the royal house.
It came after the Swedish parliament investigated how their royal family’s £12million annual budget could be kept under control.
But royal expert Jacob reckons Margrethe caused outcry because she did not reach out to her family before making her decision.
He added: “She took a huge risk by doing this.”
Making reference to the family conflict in her recent televised New Year’s address, Queen Margrethe revealed: “That the relationship with Prince Joachim and Princess Marie has run into difficulties hurts me.”
And it’s not just between mother and son that the difficulties lie — but also between her two sons, heir and spare.
Like Prince William and Harry, Frederik and Joachim were close as children but have seen their relations become more strained in recent years.
Joachim tried to move his family to Copenhagen in 2014, but instead was told he was being sent to Paris to work in the Danish embassy. It was said to be an attempt to stop the popular younger brother drawing attention away from the Crown Prince.
Rumours in Danish circles are that Frederik, who calls himself “the deputy” to his “commander” mum, had more to do with the decision to strip his nieces and nephews of their titles than he is willing to admit.
And Joachim told the Danish press that he hadn’t heard from his brother since the news broke, adding that the relationship between their families was “complicated”.
Commenting on the parallels with the feud between the Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales, Jacob said: “Both the ‘Spares’ are making noise, albeit Prince Harry on a much grander scale than Prince Joachim. The differences are that Prince Joachim wants to be a part of the royal family.”
Prince Joachim’s two older children are already making their way in the world. Nikolai has modelled for Burberry and Felix is at business school. Henrick and Athena are still at school in Paris.
In a new statement addressing the furore, the Danish monarch said: “I’ve made my decision as queen, mother and grandmother, but as mother and grandmother I have underestimated how much this affects my youngest son and his family.
“It makes a big impression and I’m sorry for that. No one should be in doubt that my children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren are my great pride and joy.”
For King Charles, it will seem like a lesson in treading carefully.
As Prince Joachim himself said: “No matter if you modernise or slim down, it has to be done in a decent way.”
By Robert Jobson, Royal Expert and Author
BOTH Charles and William want a tighter, more cost-effective Royal Family. The King is deeply conscious of creating a more efficient, stream-lined monarchy, while ensuring it does not lose its magic
And of course, he has half an eye on what they are doing in Denmark.
But Britain’s Royal Family is much bigger and richer than those in Scandinavia and our King will not want to remove titles – hence his reluctance to strip Harry and Meghan of theirs.
Non-working royals will simply not be allowed to use the HRH prefix.
It is partly why there has been no movement on titles for the Sussex children Archie and Lilibet – they are unlikely to be working royals. After all, having no title has not hindered Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall.
Charles does not want a palace balcony packed full of royals and distant cousins. It gives people the idea, in these days of austerity, that the royals cost too much.
On the other hand, there are so many royal duties that the King needs his wider family as back-up to support him at home and abroad.
Charles will make major change to Coronation & won't wear old-fashioned costume
Multi-millionaire on Rich House Poor House pays broke man £50k a year
We splashed £4k on Turkey teeth – we haven’t drunk anything hot for 5 months
I’m a 48-year-old gran and proud cougar
©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. “The Sun”, “Sun”, “Sun Online” are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers’ Limited’s Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. View our online Press Pack. For other inquiries, Contact Us. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/