Queen Margrethe of Denmark strips half of her grandchildren of their titles in 'out of the blue' shock move

Queen Margrethe of Denmark has stripped half of her eight grandchildren of their titles in a move described as coming “out of the blue”. 

• The Queen of Denmark has decided to strip four of her eight grandchildren of their titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark from January 1, 2023. 
• It’s claimed that the mother of the two oldest of these royals has described the move as coming “out of the blue” for her sons.  
• This royal news comes as we revealed how Prince George's wicked one-liner to fellow pupils echoes Prince William's headstrong school persona. 

Following the sad announcement from Buckingham Palace that Queen Elizabeth II had died on September 8th, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark became Europe’s only reigning Queen. She had met with Queen Elizabeth multiple times during their respective reigns and earlier this year Queen Margrethe spoke of the “enormous impression” the Queen made on her growing up. Now the Danish Queen, who is celebrating her Golden Jubilee year, has made a momentous decision that will affect younger generations of her family forever. 

In a statement released by the Royal Palace on September 28th it was revealed that Queen Margrethe of Denmark has stripped four of her eight grandchildren of the right to use the titles Prince or Princess of Denmark from next year. 

As reported by The Guardian, the statement declared, “As of January 1 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will only be able to use their titles of Count and Countess of Monpezat, their previous titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark ceasing to exist.”

It went on to explain that Queen Margrethe’s decision was made to help her grandchildren to more easily “shape their own existence” outside of the royal spotlight going forwards. 

The palace added, “With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create a framework for the four grandchildren, to a much greater degree, to be able to shape their own existence without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation with the Royal House as an institution implies.”

The statement ended by reflecting upon how this is “in line” with other changes as it said, “The queen’s decision is in line with similar changes that other royal houses have carried out in recent years in different ways,” the statement added.

Prince Joachim of Denmark, Count of Montpezat is the younger son of Queen Margrethe and he has four children from two marriages - Nikolai and Felix from his marriage to Princess Alexandra and Henrik and Athena from his second marriage to Princess Marie. According to the publication, Alexandra told Danish media she was “shocked”. 

They claimed that Alexandra reportedly told the Daily BT, “This came from out of the blue. The children feel excluded. They can’t understand why their identity is being taken from them.”

Queen Margrethe of Denmark’s other four children via her eldest son and heir Crown Prince Frederik will retain their Prince and Princess titles, though as determined in 2016 only the eldest, Prince Christian will receive an appanage in future. 

Although they were never stripped of titles later in life, two of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren don’t have any titles at all. Princess Anne turned down the offer from Her Majesty to give her children Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall titles and is said to have told Vanity Fair previously that it was “probably easier” for them as there are “downsides” to having titles.