Denmark’s Queen Margrethe Makes First Comments Since Stripping Four Grandchildren of Princely Titles

Queen Margrethe is making her first comments since news broke that she would be taking away the titles of Prince and Princess from a handful of her grandchildren.

If you missed the news, the 82-year-old reigning Danish monarch announced the decision this week that four of her grandchildren will not have the royal titles, nor the “His/Her Highness” titles, starting at the top of 2023.

Prince Joachim‘s children, Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, are the ones who are affected. They will now be styled as His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat.

Following the news that some of her grandchildren felt “ostracized” by the decision and announcement, Queen Margrethe explained her decision while en route to an event.

“It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason,” she shared, via Hello! Magazine.

When then asked about the “ostracized” feeling claims, she replied: “Well, you have to see how you … I haven’t seen it myself, I must say.”

Nikolai and Felix‘s mother, Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, made the comments on their feelings shortly after the announcement.

“We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock,” Alexandra said in a statement from her press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen. “This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.”

Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena will retain their places in the order of succession. They are currently seventh through to the tenth in the line to the throne.