Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II now has the title of the longest-serving monarch in Europe after Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
After the passing of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, Denmark’s beloved Queen Margrethe II is now Europe’s longest-reigning head of state and its only remaining royal.
The 82-year-old is always immaculately coiffed with her white hair wrapped up in a bun. During her 50 years on the throne, she is credited with unifying and modernizing the Danish monarchy. Following the announcement that the British monarch had passed away, Denmark said it would cut back on its golden jubilee celebrations this weekend.
At the time of Margrethe’s ascension, she did not receive a lot of public support
At the time of her ascension, just 45% of Danes supported the monarchy, but she was determined to disprove them. Margrethe has avoided scandal by allowing her two sons to wed commoners and has contributed to modernizing the institution.
The Danish monarchy is actually one of the most popular ones in the world, 80 percent and above Danes support Margrethe II’s reign. She has been the head of state of Denmark for fifty years and seven months, compared to her third cousin Queen Elizabeth, who ruled the United Kingdom for seventy years.
She is followed by her distant relative Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who has been king for 48 years.
Margrethe is also the sole reigning monarch in Europe after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, despite the fact that four other European nations have crown princesses.
She has been the queen at a time of “large changes”
“She has managed to be a queen who has united the Danish nation in a time of large changes: globalization, the appearance of the multicultural state, economic crises in the 1970s, 1980s, and again in 2008 to 2015, and the pandemic,” said the historian Lars Hovebakke Sorensen.
At a time when women were not permitted to inherit the throne in Denmark, Margrethe, the eldest of three sisters, was born in Copenhagen in 1940 and eventually rose to the position of queen. The law was altered in 1953 as a result of pressure from successive Danish administrations conscious of the need to modernize society.
In January, Margrethe celebrated the 50th anniversary of her accession with a scaled-back ceremony because of the coronavirus outbreak.
She has often emphasized that she will never resign from her responsibilities, keeping the monarchy relevant without lowering its stature.