Today’s news / Queen told sons of abdication 3 days before announcement
Crown Prince Frederik will be proclaimed King on Sunday January 14. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters

Queen told sons of abdication 3 days before announcement

It wasn’t until December 28th – three days before the Queen’s New Year speech – that Crown Prince Frederik was informed by the Queen of her plans to abdicate, the Royal Family has confirmed to Berlingske. “I can confirm that Queen Margrethe informed both the Crown Prince and Prince Joachim of the decision on 28 December,” Lene Balleby, the Royal Danish House’s head of communications, told the newspaper. However, she did not want to say when the Court and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen were informed of the plans. Only “that it has been with a very short run-in”.
It also remains unknown when the Queen made the decision to abdicate and leave the throne to her eldest son. Since her announcement to step down, there has been speculation about who knew what and when. Several media outlets have already described how the Prime Minister had to rewrite her New Year’s speech at the last minute on January 1 because of the abdication. In addition, Peter Bjerre Rosa, who was responsible for the subtitles for the Queen’s New Year’s speech on DR, had also been informed about the historic moment – but just an hour and a half before the speech was held, he said. /ritzau/