Danish palace shares a photo of Prince Joachim’s wife on Instagram amid ‘row’ over titles
The Danish Royal Court posted a photo of Prince Joachim’s wife, Princess Marie, on it’s official Instagram account today after the Prince hit out at the Queen‘s decision to strip his children of their royal titles.
The Det Danske Kongehus account posted the photo of Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier as she appeared via a pre-recorded video message at a food waste event in Denmark, which was attended by schoolchildren in Year 6.
The caption read: ‘Her Royal Highness Princess Marie, who for a number of years has been engaged in the fight against food waste, sent a video greeting to school children from her kitchen in Paris.’
The Danish Royal Court Instagram account posted a photo of Princess Marie, the second wife of Prince Joachim and mother of his two youngest children, this morning
L-R: Princess Marie, Prince Joachim, Princess Athena, Prince Felix, Prince Henrik and Prince Nikolai at Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee earlier this month
Some royal fans may consider the post an olive branch after Queen Margrethe of Denmark announced Princess Marie’s children with Prince Joachim would be stripped of their royal titles as of 1 January next year – which her youngest son claimed had ‘harmed’ them.
Speaking to Ekstra Bladet this morning, Prince Joachim said he and his children, Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, were ‘all very sad’ about the decision.
He told the outlet: ‘It’s never fun to see your children being harmed. They are been put in a situation they do not understand.’
The Prince added that, despite reports he had been informed of the Queen’s decision in May, he actually only had five days to come to terms with the news before passing it onto his children.
He said: ‘I was given five days’ notice to tell them. In May, I was presented with a plan which, by and large, was that when the children each turned 25, it would happen.
The children of Prince Joachim, Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena, from his two marriages, will be stripped of their prince/princess titles
‘Now I had only five days to tell them. Athena turns 11 in January,’ he clarified.
Prince Joachim, who is sixth-in-line to the throne behind his brother and his children, was speaking outside the Danish Embassy in Paris, where he lives with his second wife Marie and their children Henrik and Athena.
Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix’s mother says she’s ‘in shock’ by move to strip them of their royal titles
Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg – Prince Joachim’s ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix – said she is ‘in shock’ over Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s decision to strip her sons of their royal titles.
Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20, along with their younger siblings Prince Henri, 13, and Princess Athen, 10, from their father’s second marriage, will all have their titles of prince and princess removed from January 1 2023, the palace announced yesterday.
‘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, reported Danish magazine Se og Hør.
Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen (pictured)
The statement continued: ‘This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracised. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.’
Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.
Prince Joachim married his second wife Princess Marie in 2008, and they later welcomed Prince Henrik and Princess Athena.
His oldest children Nikolai and Felix, who are both models, are the product of his first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg.
Alexandra, 58, who was married to Prince Joachim for 10 years until 2005, said the news came like a ‘bolt out of the blue’ and her sons now feel ‘ostracised’ from their family’. Her spokesperson also claimed Joachim learned the news through a royal aide, rather than from his mother directly.
In a statement to Danish magazine Se og Hør she added: ‘This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.’
Her spokesperson Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen told another news organisation that Joachim learned of his children’s fate via an aide.
Queen Margrethe spoke neither to her sons nor her grandchildren, it is claimed.
‘The children have received the message that they are losing their titles, delivered by their father, just as Countess Alexandra was told by Prince Joachim,’ the spokesperson added.
A spokesman for the Danish Royal Household said today: ‘As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.
‘We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen’s wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.’
Queen Margrethe, 82, announced the move to remove the Prince and Princess and HRH titles from Prince Joachim’s children in a statement yesterday, saying she hoped it would allow her grandchildren to ‘shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties’ that come with a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family.
The four children of Margrethe’s eldest son and heir Crown Prince Frederik, and his Australian-born wife Crown Princess Mary – Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and 11-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine – will maintain their titles.
It is seen as a move to streamline the monarchy – in echoes of King Charles’ desire for the British Royal Family, and those of other European royal households.
The full statement read: ‘In April 2008, Her Majesty the Queen conferred the titles of Count, Countess and Comtesse of Monpezat on her sons, their spouses and their descendants.
‘In May 2016, it was also announced that His Royal Highness Prince Christian, as the only one of the Queen’s grandchildren, is expected to receive an annuity from the state as an adult.
‘As a natural extension of this, Her Majesty has decided that with effect from 1 January 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim can only use their titles as Count and Countess of Monpezat, as their previous titles as Prince and Princess of Denmark will lapse.
‘Prince Joachim’s descendants will henceforth have to be addressed as Excellencies.
‘The Queen’s decision is in line with similar adaptations that other royal houses have implemented in different ways in recent years.
‘With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.
‘All four grandchildren maintain their places in the order of succession,’ concluded the statement.