In two weeks, the Australian-born Mary Donaldson will become Queen of Denmark.
The Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Princess Mary, will become King Frederik X and Queen Mary on 14 January – just weeks after the much-loved Queen Margrethe announced her abdication.
So why is Denmark coronating a new sovereign? And how does a woman from Hobart ascend to a Scandinavian throne?
Here is everything you need to know.
Why is Queen Margrethe abdicating?
The world’s second longest-ruling monarch, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, is stepping down. She cited health issues and back surgery she underwent in February 2023 when announcing her abdication during a Danish new year broadcast.
“The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said.
“I have decided that now is the right time.”
Margrethe was popular among her subjects, with her rule achieving a 72% approval rate.
But with the crown, her heir will be inheriting recent changes and controversies surrounding them – most recently, Queen Margrethe upsetting family members with a decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles.
“When the time comes, I will guide the ship,” Frederik said in a speech celebrating his mother’s half-century on the throne in 2022.
“I will follow you, as you followed your father,” he added.
When does Mary officially become Queen, and will there be a coronation?
When Margrethe abdicates on 14 January, Crown Prince Frederik will become King Frederik X. Crown Princess Mary will in turn become Queen of Denmark – and the world’s first Australian-born monarch.
The coronation will begin with Frederik and Mary making their way to Christiansborg Palace, known as the state’s centre of power since the 1400s. There they will proclaim acceptance of their duties as new sovereigns.
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, will then join the pair. Queen Margrethe’s 1972 coronation ceremony lasted for only five minutes – so the ceremony is expected to be short.
The new sovereigns will make their way to Amalienborg – the royal family’s residence in Copenhagen – where they will join their four children and appear on the balcony before their country.
A celebratory ball will end the day, with royals from around the world in attendance.
Is Mary actually Scottish?
Some British newspapers are trying to claim Mary as one of their own, proclaiming her “Mary, Queen of Scots”. The London Telegraph ran the front page headline”: “How a Scot became queen of Denmark.”
Mary was born and educated in Hobart, Tasmania. Her father is Scottish. She renounced her Australian and United Kingdom citizenship, acquired through her Scottish-born parents, when she married Frederik.
How did a Scandinavian prince cross paths with a Tasmanian real estate manager?
Mary Donaldson graduated with a commerce and law graduate from the University of Tasmania. She met Frederik in a Sydney bar – the Slip Inn – during the 2000 Olympic Games.
It started with a discussion about chest hair, when Mary and her friend were joking with a group of men.
“The first time we met, we shook hands and I didn’t know he was the crown prince of Denmark. An hour or so later someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?’” Mary said in 2003.
The pair have been married for 19 years and are parents to four children (who they sent mainly to state schools, reportedly in an attempt to give them a more normal upbringing).
The couple are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports”, according to historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen.
Will their children get new titles?
Mary and Frederik’s children are 18-year-old Prince Christian, 16-year-old Princess Isabella, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, who are 12, turning 13.
Christian will become heir to the throne after his father’s coronation and will adopt the title Crown Prince Christian.
How does the Danish monarchy work?
The monarchy was originally elective – the next reigning sovereign could be chosen (though it was normally the eldest son of the ruler at the time).
In 1660-1661, the elective monarchy was replace by an inherited monarchy – like the system England uses, where the crown is inherited by a sovereign’s child. At the time, right of succession belonged to the firstborn son.
The monarchy introduced a democratic constitution in 1849 and later the 1953 Act of Succession allowed for the possibility of a female monarch. In 2009, The Act of Succession was amended so that the eldest child, no matter the gender, succeeds to the throne.
